House may forward impeachment motion to panel Thursday

KATHMANDU, Nov 30: Forty-two days after the registration of an impeachment motion in parliament against the now suspended CIAA chief Lokman Singh Karki, the parliament is likely to forward the motion to the Impeachment Recommendation Committee for further action on Thursday.

The impeachment motion against was registered in the parliament on October 29. But the House has merely held deliberations on the motion for five days so far.

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With the delay in forwarding the motion to the parliamentary committee, lawmakers have started expressing ire against Speaker Onsari Gharti as well as top leaders of the major political parties for prolonging the deliberations on the motion. CPN-UML chief whip Bhanu Bhakta Dhakal said that an understanding with the speaker has been made for forwarding the motion to the committee.

Most of the lawmakers taking part in the deliberations on the motion on Tuesday demanded that the motion be expedited without any delay. After lawmakers from the ruling Nepali Congress (NC), CPN (Maoist Center) and other fringe political parties expressed unwillingness to take part in the deliberations, only lawmakers from the UML took part in the deliberations on Tuesday.

“I wonder why the impeachment process against Karki has been prolonged without any specific reason,” UML lawmaker Bhawani Khapung said. He also demanded that the governemnt investigate into the property of the suspended CIAA chief Karki and imprison him if he is found guilty.

UML lawmakers Lal Babu Yadav, Harkabol Rai, Jhabindraman Ghale, Hari Upreti, Shyam Dhakal and Kalasa Devi Mahara took part in the deliberations on the impeachment motion Tuesday meeting. Over four dozen lawmakers have aired their views on the impeachment motion so far.

 

According to the parliament secretariat, over two dozen lawmakers have yet to participate in the deliberations on the motion. If the political parties agree to conclude the deliberations by Thursday, a few lawmakers are expected to withdraw their names paving the way to conclude the deliberations at earliest.