Speaker Dol Prasad Aryal has issued a ruling directing Prime Minister Balen Shah to attend Parliament and answer lawmakers’ questions.
With the speaker’s ruling, the incident of PM Shah failing to appear before Parliament, the forum of representatives elected by the people, has now been entered into the parliamentary record.
The House of Representatives Regulations require the prime minister to attend the House during the first week of every month and answer lawmakers’ questions.
However, since taking office, PM Shah has not answered lawmakers’ questions in accordance with the House regulations. His repeated failure to respond has led to the speaker issuing a ruling, marking a new development in parliamentary history.
On May 31, PM Shah unexpectedly allowed lawmakers to ask questions and answered some of them. However, that question-and-answer session was not conducted in accordance with the House regulations.
A formal question-and-answer session under the regulations has yet to take place.
Under the regulations, the speaker must set a date for the question-and-answer session, after which lawmakers submit their questions. The prime minister is then required to answer those questions in Parliament.
Instead of attending Parliament for the scheduled question-and-answer session, PM Shah sparked a new controversy on May 31 by stating that “Nepal has also encroached on India’s land.”
Opposition parties have been demanding that the prime minister clarify the statement and that it be removed from the parliamentary record.
For 77 consecutive days, opposition parties had been demanding an explanation from the prime minister over his remarks. PM Shah, however, continued to ignore the issue raised in Parliament.
Even as the issue was raised for roughly 30 to 40 minutes during almost every sitting of the House, the prime minister did not deem it necessary to appear before Parliament and respond.
As a result, Speaker Aryal was compelled to issue a ruling addressing the opposition’s demands.
The speaker had also met PM Shah three times during this period and urged him to attend Parliament.
Aryal visited PM Shah’s office at Singha Durbar on May 21, July 29, and August 11. However, PM Shah did not give a definite answer on whether he would attend Parliament.
According to Speaker Aryal, PM Shah only said that he would “come at an appropriate time.”
After PM Shah repeatedly avoided Parliament, Speaker Aryal was ultimately compelled to issue a ruling requiring him to attend Parliament and answer lawmakers’ questions.
The House regulations require the speaker to set a date for a question-and-answer session with the the prime minister. However, since it remains unclear whether PM Shah will attend, Speaker Aryal has not been able to set a date.
The speaker has nevertheless succeeded in ending the opposition’s prolonged protest in Parliament.
Opposition parties have welcomed the speaker’s ruling and ended the protest they had been continuing during House meetings.
Leader of the main opposition Bhishma Raj Angdembe, Chief Whip Basana Thapa, CPN-UML Whip Ain Mahar, Shram Sanskriti Party Whip Aaren Rai, and Rastriya Prajatantra Party Whip Khusbu Oli are currently on a China visit.
After the speaker issued the ruling, Nepali Communist Party (NCP) leader Barsha Man Pun asked lawmakers to take their seats. However, Nepali Congress lawmaker Arjun Narsingh KC and CPN-UML deputy leader Padma Aryal were initially confused. After consulting, both eventually returned to their seats.
With lawmakers taking their seats, the opposition’s 77-day protest in Parliament came to an end.
Although senior opposition leaders were absent from the House meeting, Rastriya Swatantra Party President and lawmaker Rabi Lamichhane, parliamentary party deputy leader Ganesh Parajuli, and party General Secretary and lawmaker Bipin Acharya, among others, were present.
After the speaker’s ruling, lawmaker Bipin Acharya checked the House regulations, while Lamichhane consulted deputy leader Ganesh Parajuli.
PM Shah was not present in the House when the speaker issued the ruling. He has attended only six parliamentary meetings so far.
