While some leaders are for referring the matter back to President Dr Ram Baran Yadav to call parliament to elect the new prime minister on the basis of consensus as per the Article 38 (1) of the Interim Constitution, others believe that there is no need to go back to the head of state. [break]
The latter are of the opinion that the House itself can resume the election process as all necessary procedures have been completed.
While Nepali Congress (NC) leaders are for restarting the process from the scratch, UCPN (Maoist) leaders have said it is unnecessary to repeat the same process. “We [NC leaders] are very clear that we have to restart the process from the scratch as per the Article 38 (1) and that we have to refer the matter to the president,” NC Chief Whip Laxman Ghimire told Republica.
But Maoist Chief Whip Post Bahadur Bogati said there is no need to go back to the president.
“We shouldn´t further lengthen and complicate the election process as it is already too late,” Bogati said. “Whether we follow Article 38 (1) or 38 (2), there is no need to refer the business again to the president.”
CPN-UML Chief Whip Bhim Acharya shared similar views. “There should be no problem in resuming the business from parliament without going back to the president,” Acharya said.
However, CPN-UML Spokesperson Pradip Gyawali said it wouldn´t be appropriate to skip article 38 (1) as the leaders have time and again said in public that they would still give emphasis on forming a national consensus government once the new process begins.
“Though our party is yet to discuss the matter, I personally believe that we should start the process from the scratch,” Gyawali said.
Tek Prasad Dhungana, legal advisor to the parliament secretariat, said the parties are yet to discuss the matter.
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