KATHMANDU, March 26: The government has decided to withdraw the land-related ordinance amid failure to receive full support from the coalition partners. A meeting of the ruling parties held on Wednesday decided to withdraw the land-related ordinance after the government failed to secure support from the parties that helped endorse the five other ordinances.
The KP Oli-led government introduced six ordinances on January 31—a few days before the parliamentary session was scheduled to begin. Of these, five ordinances were passed by both the House of Representatives (HoR) and the National Assembly (NA) on March 5. However, the land-related ordinance faced strong opposition including from parties within the ruling coalition itself.
The Janata Samajbadi Party Nepal (JSP-N), Loktantrik Samajbadi Party (LSP) and Janamat Party, all of which supported the government, demanded its withdrawal. As a result, the government was forced to retract the ordinance.
Initially, when the ordinances were introduced, the government was determined to pass them as proposed. However, the government struggled to secure approval for all of them, ultimately withdrawing the land-related ordinance.
Under constitutional provisions, ordinances issued while parliament is not in session must be passed by a majority in both houses of the federal parliament once the session begins. However, the government lacked the necessary majority in the National Assembly to pass the land ordinance. The situation worsened when JSP-N, with three seats and LSP, with one seat, withdrew their support.
Among the ruling parties, only the Nepali Congress (NC), CPN-UML, JSP-N, and LSP hold seats in the National Assembly. Other coalition partners, including JSP, Nagarik Unmukti Party (NUP) and Janamat Party, have no representation in the NA.
The NC holds 16 seats, UML has 10, JSP-N has three, and LSP has one, totaling 26 seats. If JSP-N and LSP had supported the ordinance, the tally would have reached 30. However, both parties opposed it.
With no majority in the National Assembly and mounting opposition from within the ruling coalition, the government had no choice but to withdraw the land-related ordinance. Despite Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli and NC President Sher Bahadur Deuba's efforts to push the ordinance through, these attempts were unsuccessful.
Reports suggest that the NC even considered splitting the Unified Socialist Party, which holds eight seats in the NA, to secure the necessary votes. Similarly, they tried to persuade JSP-N to maintain its support.
None of these strategies worked, and the ordinance had to be withdrawn. JSP-N and LSP were even prepared to leave the government rather than back the ordinance.
The opposition Maoist Centre had already opposed it, and negotiations were further complicated by Prime Minister Oli’s strained relationship with CPN (Unified Socialist) leader Madhav Kumar Nepal. Ultimately, the government could not secure the support needed to pass the land-related ordinance, leading PM Oli to withdraw it, despite his strong leadership.
According to constitutional provisions, ordinances must be passed within two months of the parliamentary session’s commencement or they automatically lapse. Since the session began on January 31, the ordinance would have expired on March 31, just five days away, if not withdrawn. Rather than allowing it to lapse, the government chose to proactively withdraw it. Despite having a two-thirds majority, the government was unable to pass the ordinances as planned and had to withdraw the land-related ordinance.
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