The lawmakers in the petition have stated that the House session has become essential so as to elect a new prime minister, amend the parliamentary regulations and to discuss other urgent issues.[break]
According to Pari Thapa of CPN (Ekikrit), the UCPN (Maoist) and other parties in the petition have argued that the candidacy of Ram Chandra Paudel for the post of prime minister is no longer effective after the prorogation of the House session on November 19.
The lawmakers were led by Maoist deputy parliamentary party leader Narayankaji Shrestha. CPN (ML-Socialist), Nepal Sadbhavana Party (Anandi Devi), CPN (Ekikrit), Nepali Janta Dal, Janamukti Party and Nepaa Rastriya Party are other parties who supported the Maoist move. They submitted the petition to the president along with signatures of 187 lawmakers.
The president has to call the House session within 15 days if one-fourth of the parliamentarians in the Constituent Assembly so demand.
The parties, however, have serious differences over the status of NC parliamentary party leader Paudel´s prime ministerial candidacy.
The NC has been demanding that Paudel be declared prime minister unopposed. But the Maoists and UML Chairman Jhalanath Khanal have been insisting to begin a new process by amending the parliamentary regulations. Maoist and UML chief whips -- Posta Bahadur Bogati and Bhim Acharya -- among leaders of six other small parties had last month demanded with Speaker Subas Nembang in writing to amend the parliamentary regulations.
But other UML leaders led by KP Sharma Oli are against joining hands with the Maoists.
Prez to consult experts
Officials at the office of President Dr Ram Baran Yadav have said the head of state is for consulting legal experts before summoning the House session. The officials said the president has decided to consult legal experts as the petitioners have clearly mentioned that the candidacy of Ram Chandra Paudel is no longer effective. “Summoning the new session without consultation may give a wrong message. Therefore, he would first consult experts,” the officials said.
My candidacy is intact: Paudel
My candidacy is intact. The Supreme Court in its verdict has suggested to the speaker to declare Paudel prime minister unopposed. The prime minister´s move to prorogue the House session was merely to seek an alternative to introduce the annual budget. If we establish such a precedent, other prime ministers will also follow the suit. On the ground of this precedent, a caretaker prime minister may dissolve the House and may turn a dictator. It is very short-sighted of the Maoists to demand a special session.
Special session is not a solution: Govt Spokesman
Only a regular session can resolve the outstanding issues and the government is (and was) ready to call the session after forging consensus among the major political parties. The special session can neither resolve the issue of electing new prime minister nor can it settle the issue of the budget. At the most, the special session can issue a directive to the government. It is purely a Maoist strategy to derail the politics of consensus and invite confrontation.
There is no way out except to settle the issues through consensus. Even amending the parliamentary regulations is not possible without consent from the Nepali Congress because, we have been adopting the policy of consensus so far.
Related story
Stocks inch higher amidst subdued market activity
