Kathmandu: Nepal’s Supreme Court on Monday reinstated the dissolved House of Representatives and directed President Bidya Devi Bhandari to appoint Nepali Congress chief Sher Bahadur Deuba as prime minister within two days.
Delivering a major blow to the veteran Communist leader who was preparing for snap polls, a five-member Constitutional Bench of the Supreme Court led by Chief Justice Cholendra Shumsher Rana issued the verdict stating that President Bhandari’s decision to dissolve the lower house upon a recommendation of Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli was an unconstitutional act.
The bench comprised four other senior most justices — Dipak Kumar Karki, Mira Khadka, Ishwar Prasad Khatiwada and Dr Ananda Mohan Bhattarai — at the apex court.
President Bidya Devi Bhandari had dissolved the 275-member lower house for the second time in five months on May 22 at the recommendation of Prime Minister Oli and announced snap elections on November 12 and November 19.
Last week, the Election Commission had announced the schedule for mid-term elections despite the uncertainty over polls.’
As many as 30 petitions, including one by the opposition alliance led by the Nepali Congress, were filed against the dissolution of the House by the President.
