Nepal

Parliament prorogued

By Himalayan News Service

Photo: RSS

KATHMANDU, MARCH 15

President Bidhya Devi Bhandari, on recommendation of the government, prorogued the current session of the Paraliament from midnight today.

A notice issued by the Parliament Secretariat stated that the president prorogued the current session of both houses of the Palriament - the House of Representatives and the National Assembly - from midnight today.

A Cabinet meeting held today had decided to ask the president to prorogue the ongoing session of the Parliament. This session of the Parliament largely remained dysfunctional with the continued obstruction of the House proceedings by the main opposition CPN-UML.

UML obstructed the House proceedings accusing Speaker Agni Prasad Sapkota of bias for not confirming the expulsion of 14 UML lawmakers, including Madhav Kumar Nepal, who later formed CPN (Unified Socialist).

With the prorogation of the Parliament, fate of some crucial bills, including citizenship bill, remain uncertain.

Assistant Spokesperson for the Parliament Secretariat Dasharath Dhamala said the impeachment motion filed against Chief Justice Cholendra Shumsher JB Rana would remain in status quo.

Rana remains suspended as CJ ever since the impeachment motion was filed against him at the HoR.

During this session, the Millennium Challenge Corporation compact was endorsed after the two ruling coalition partners, the CPN-MC and CPN (US), which had initially refused to back the deal, decided to ratify it with a 12-point interpretative declaration.

A version of this article appears in the print on March 16, 2022, of The Himalayan Times.