KATHMANDU, SEPTEMBER 25

The Supreme Court today issued a show cause notice to the government seeking an explanation on why Speaker Agni Prasad Sapkota and Deputy Speaker Pushpa Bhusal had not vacated their offices on September 17, as the Election Commission had fixed September 18 and 19 for submission of proportional representation candidates for parliamentary and provincial elections scheduled for November 20.

A single bench of Justice Hari Prasad Phuyal issued the show cause notice in response to a writ petition filed by Advocate Kishor Paudel and others seeking removal of Speaker Sapkota and Deputy Speaker Bhusal from their posts.

The bench, however, refused to issue interim order in the case, saying that the case entailed interpretation of Article 91 (6) (a) of the constitution and the petitioner would not suffer irreparable loss due to non-issuing of interim order. The court listed the case for priority hearing, keeping in mind the seriousness of the issue.

Paudel and others have argued in their petition that since the Election Commission had set September 18 and 19 for the submission of lists of proportional representation candidates, the tenure of lawmakers ended on September 17, as such the speaker and the deputy speaker should also be relieved of their responsibilities from the same date.

Earlier, a source close the the speaker had told THT that the speaker was of the view that the five-year tenure of the House of Representatives would end on March 5 if the date on which members of the HoR had taken the oath of office and secrecy after the last general election was counted. The source had argued that even if the election date was counted as the beginning of the five-year tenure, the term of the current HoR would end only on November 25.

A version of this article appears in the print on September 26, 2022 of The Himalayan Times.