Nepal PM Oli recommends the dissolution of the Parliament

Nepal Prime Minister K P Sharma Oli has recommended the dissolution of the Parliament after an emergency meeting of the Cabinet on Sunday morning. "Cabinet meeting decided to recommend the President to dissolve the Parliament,” said Barshaman Pun, energy minister in PM Oli’s cabinet announced in Kathmandu after the meeting. A report from Kathmandu says that the surprise move comes at a time PM Oli was under intense pressure from the rival factions of the Nepal Communist Party(NCP) led by former prime ministers Pushpa Kamal Dahal and Madhav Nepal.

According to media reports PM Oli was under pressure to withdraw an ordinance related to the Constitutional Council Act that he had issued on Tuesday and got endorsed by President Bidya Devi Bhandari the same day. The ordinance to amend the Constitutional Council Act was introduced on December 15, and allegedly undermined the principle of checks and balances. It allowed the Constitutional Council to convene a meeting if a majority of its members attend it. PM Oli held such a meeting on December 15 evening itself,report said.

Latest move is seen as a precursor to a split in the party that had been piling pressure on him to withdraw an ordinance that his government had issued on Tuesday to give himself power to make crucial appointments. On Wednesday, the party’s standing committee had passed a resolution that asked PM Oli to withdraw the ordinance. He had agreed to comply at the committee’s meeting but later had other thoughts.

Meanwhile, debate has started in the country over the legality of dissolving the parliament since there is no such provision in the constitution. "The recommendation of dissolution of the parliament is against the constitution and it should be immediately withdrawn," senior Nepal Communist Party leader Madhav Kumar Nepal said. Nepal's House of Representatives, elected in 2017, has 275 members. The next general election in the Himalayan country is due in 2022.