Is it legal to continue the House session after the announcement date for fresh polls?

By Our Reporter

The government has already announced holding the elections to the House of Representatives and Provincial Assemblies on November 20. However, the House of Representatives in Kathmandu and Provincial Assemblies in the capital of all seven provinces are continuously holding sessions by tabling draft bills, endorsing and discussing them. Normally, when the elections are announced for forming a new parliament, the businesses of the Houses should be ceased, but it is not happening in Nepal, because leaders and political parties here are free to interpret the Constitution on their own.

After the announcement of the fresh polls, the incumbent government automatically turns into a caretaker government and it cannot take any far-reaching decisions and it cannot give new businesses to the parliament. It is what is in practice in a democracy. But in Nepal, the House is running and the government is providing it with businesses. Some legal experts and the main opposition party UML is opposing the continuity of the House session, but the government is determined to pass a few bills from the current session.

This was reflected on Tuesday when Minister for Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs Govinda Prasad Sharma Pokharel said that the session of the House of Representatives would continue for some more days as it has the responsibility to enact many laws from this session.

When MPs from the main opposition claimed that the government could not provide business to the House after the announcement of the election date, the government looks adamant to continue the House session.

Some parliamentarians doubt whether it would be possible to bring a new bill into law in the current session. In response, Minister Pokharel said, "This parliament is still running and many laws have to be enacted."