Speaker Devraj Ghimire has has again refused to remove Janamat Party lawmaker Goma Labh Sapkota as requested by the party.
Janamat Party Chairman CK Raut had written to the the Federal Parliament Secretariat for the third time to remover Sapkota as a member of the House of Representatives (HoR) alleging that she sought money from a contractor, and initiated discussion to split the party.
But Speaker Ghimire has refused to expel her pointing that the disciplinary action taken by the party on Labh was not of the nature that leads to loss of the position and the provision of the act related to political parties was not used to expel her.
Lawmaker Sapkota, on her part, has been refuting the allegations.
Raut had written to the Federal Parliament Secretariat along with 84 pages of documents while seeking Sapkota's expulsion but Speaker Ghimire has raised questions about the documents prepared for her expulsion instead. His decision stresses that arranging documents does not suffice to take action against someone, and there should be evidence establishing that the person concerned committed mistakes.
The Federal Parliament Secretariat earlier in its letter sent to Janamat Party had said that the action against Sapkota seems to be erroneous prima facie on the basis of law and procedures mentioned in section 32 of the Political Parties Act, and the action taken against her cannot be moved forward ignoring the erroneous act.
Lawmaker Sapkota had requested Speaker Ghimire to save her post saying even the clarification said to be hers was fake after the party sent the letter seeking her removal.
Janamat had made Sapkota, a resident of Mahottari Rural Municipality-3, Mahottari, lawmaker under the proportional representation electoral system.
Lawmaker Sapkota, meanwhile, said that she had differences with the party over appointment of personal secretary and that the party punished her for the same reason.
She said that Janamat Chairman CK Raut had told her since the beginning that she could not appoint a personal secretary on her own and that she should appoint someone recommended by the party. Following a dispute over the issue, she was threatened with action and removal from the post of lawmaker, Sapkota added.
Sapkota said that she had initially appointed Samir Kumar Jha from the party as her personal secretary and later replaced him with Ashok Sah on the party’s recommendation. She then made Mansi Jha her personal secretary as Sah never contacted her, Sapkota added.
