KATHMANDU, June 24: The hearing on the writ petitions filed against dissolution of the House of Representatives (HoR) is underway at the Supreme Court on Thursday too.
During the hearing on Thursday, Senior Advocate Raman Shrestha claimed that the President should appoint Sher Bahadur Deuba to the post of the Prime Minister in line with the Article 76 (5) of the Constitution as Deuba has staked claim with support of 149 lawmakers who have signed on his behalf in the prime ministerial bid.
No complaint can be filed against president’s discretionary rig...
Shrestha argued that President Bhandari’s decision not to appoint Deuba as prime minister despite commanding support of a clear majority of the lawmakers was a violation of the Constitution. Shrestha argued that the signatures of the majority lawmakers were clear evidence that President Bhandari cannot deny the appointment of Deuba as Prime Minister as per the Article 76 (5) of the constitution.
Shrestha further argued that it was not only the matter of who becomes the Prime Minister but also an issue of the implementation or violation of the Constitution.
The senior advocate also argued that the President should have appointed Deuba to the post of prime minister but the President Bhandari chose to do otherwise against the spirit of the constitution. Advocate Shrestha said that the lawmakers will not be abided by the party whip while exercising the Article 76 (5) adding that it was a discretionary right of the parliamentarians.
Similarly, senior advocate Harihar Dahal argued that there was no other strong evidence than the signatures of 149 lawmakers for the appointment of Deuba as Prime Minister as per the Article 76 (5) of the constitution. While raising a question over the intention of the head of the state to take a hasty decision to dissolve the parliament, Dahal alleged that President Bhandari had tried to save the prime ministerial post of Oli by dissolving the parliament overnight.
