Prime Minister (PM) KP Sharma Oli has brought a controversial ordinance about the Constitutional Council evading the parliament and President Bidya Devi Bhandari has again hastily endorsed it shredding any semblance of impartiality.
PM Oli had called Constitutional Council meeting on Sunday and again Tuesday but the meetings were adjourned in lack of quorum.
Nepali Congress (NC) President Sher Bahadur Deuba did not attend Sunday's meeting stating Oli had convened it to derail the party's nationwide anti-government protest scheduled the next day while Speaker Agni Sapkota, who is close to CPN Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal, also gave the Sunday's meeting a miss apparently due to internal dispute in the ruling party.
PM Oli, Sher Bahadur Deuba, Chief Justice (CJ) Cholendra Shumsher Rana and National Assembly Chairman Ganesh Timalsina were present in the meeting on Tuesday but Sapkota again didn't turn up.
The Constitutional Council chaired by the PM includes chief justice, House speaker and deputy speaker, National Assembly chairman and the main opposition leader.
Absence of Speaker Sapkota meant there was lack of quorum as the post of deputy speaker remains vacant leading to automatic adjournment of meeting.
PM Oli decided to call the meeting again at five Tuesday evening before the meeting was adjourned.
He then covertly sent an ordinance about the Constitutional Council to President Bhandari who then hurriedly authenticated the ordinance in the afternoon. PM Oli had chaired Cabinet meeting before the ordinance was sent to the President's Office Tuesday but multiple ministers have confirmed with Setopati that he did not discuss the ordinance in the meeting.
The ordinance has been published in the Nepal Gazette within hours of reaching the President's Office. The ordinance has amended the provision about the quorum and the need to take consensus decision.
The Constitutional Council Act requires presence of four members apart from the PM which means Speaker Sapkota can prevent quorum even if Deuba were to attend since the post of deputy speaker remains vacant.
The majority of the current strength of the Constitutional Council can constitute quorum as per the amendment made through the ordinance. Similarly, the ordinance has also put a provision allowing the majority to take a decision if the meeting fails to take consensus decision.
This effectively means that PM Oli can take decisions with presence of CJ Rana and National Assembly Chairman Timalsina, who is close to Oli, even if both NC President Deuba and Speaker Sapkota were to boycott the meeting.
The ordinance has widely been criticized both inside ruling CPN and outside the party.
NC Spokesperson Bishwa Prakash Sharma said Deuba had pointedly warned Oli to not bring ordinance before departing from Baluwatar after the Constitutional Council meeting was adjourned earlier on Tuesday. He added that Deuba will not attend the evening's meeting now that the ordinance has been brought.
He also stated that President Bhandari has failed to maintain dignity of the hallowed position by hastily authenticating the controversial ordinance in a blatantly partisan manner.
CPN Chairman Dahal and Senior Leader Jhala Nath Khanal have also slammed the ordinance brought unilaterally by Oli without discussion inside the party and demanded it be immediately withdrawn.
The Oli camp, however, claims that the ordinance has been brought to end the state of limbo. Deputy PM Ishwar Pokharel pointing at the unfilled constitutional vacancies claimed that the ordinance has been brought as no work could be done by the Constitutional Council.
President Bhandari similarly had hastily authenticated two controversial ordinances about political parties and the Constitutional Council in April when internal dispute in ruling CPN had similarly reached a boiling point as it has now.
The ordinance about political parties made splitting of parties easier while that about the Constitutional Council had provisions similar to the ones the sources claim are in the ordinance brought Tuesday.
President Bhandari had revoked the two ordinances a few days later as the government was forced to withdraw then following widespread condemnation by those within ruling CPN and the opposition alike.
