A meeting of opposition parties held on Tuesday has decided to thwart the preparations by the ruling Nepali Congress (NC) and CPN-UML to remove Deputy Speaker Indira Rana Magar from her position.
Raising questions about her conduct, the NC and UML are preparing to oust the deputy speaker. For this purpose, both parties collected signatures from their lawmakers and held discussions with smaller parties both within and outside the government on Tuesday.
The issue of Deputy Speaker Rana Magar writing a letter on the official letterhead to the US Embassy, requesting rescheduling of an interview for visit visa, surfaced last year. At the time, some NC and UML lawmakers called for her resignation from the House of Representatives, but the issue later faded. A complaint against the deputy speaker was also filed with the State Affairs and Good Governance Committee of the House.
“On February 26, 2023, Deputy Speaker Indira Rana Magar misused the Parliament Secretariat and her position to recommend a visa for a non-parliamentary individual to the US Embassy, violating the dignity of her office. Therefore, I have filed an application to remove her for misusing the position of deputy speaker, attaching the relevant letter,” stated the complaint filed with the State Affairs and Good Governance Committee on July 16, 2024.
However, the issue did not progress further at the time.
The NC and UML are now preparing to remove the deputy speaker from her position. According to the Constitution, the six-member Constitutional Council also includes the deputy speaker. The ruling and opposition parties have an equal number of votes in the council, due to which appointments to constitutional bodies like the Election Commission have been stalled.
After the opposition parties’ meeting, called by CPN (Maoist Center) Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal, Maoist Senior Vice-chairman Narayan Kaji Shrestha said that the incident of NC and UML collecting signatures from their lawmakers on blank papers exposed their authoritarianism.
“The incident of the ruling parties, Nepali Congress and UML, running a campaign to collect signatures on blank papers to remove Deputy Speaker Indira Rana has exposed their authoritarianism and malicious intent. This has torn apart the fabric of democracy,” Shrestha said after the meeting. “It is as clear as daylight that this move is not linked to the deputy speaker’s alleged inappropriate conduct but is clearly aimed at securing a majority in the Constitutional Council to appoint officials to constitutional bodies as per their wishes.”
He claimed that such actions are pushing the country in a gravely negative direction and leading it toward a crisis.
“All those who wish to protect the democratic achievements gained through decades of sacrificial struggles must rise above immediate vested interests and unite to thwart such wrongful actions,” he said. “In this context, the meeting of opposition parties active in Parliament, organized today by the main opposition party, CPN (Maoist Center), has strongly condemned the steps taken by the parties in government and appealed to all concerned to defeat this move.”
The opposition parties’ meeting included the Maoist Center, Rastriya Swatantra Party, Rastriya Prajatantra Party, Unified Socialist, Nepal Samajwadi Party, and Aam Janata Party. However, opposition parties Nagarik Unmukti Party and Janata Samajwadi Party Nepal attended the meeting of the ruling coalition.
