They had abandoned CPN-MC to join the govt led by KP Sharma Oli
KATHMANDU, AUGUST 2
The Supreme Court today refused to issue an interim order in the case filed by four former lawmakers representing the CPN-Maoist Centre who had joined the KP Sharma Oli government.
Top Bahadur Rayamajhi, Lekh Raj Bhatta, Prabhu Sah, and Gauri Shankar Chaudhary had filed a writ petition at the Supreme Court on July 28 demanding reinstatement of their House of Representatives seats that they had lost after the CPN-MC took disciplinary action against them 'for defecting to the UML'.
The four former lawmakers were expelled from the House of Representatives following their removal from the party by the CPN-MC before the House was dissolved for the second time.
A single bench of Justice Ishwar Prasad Khatiwada stated in the order that the petitioners' argument that they were not given a chance to clarify was wrong, as the CPN-MC had sent clarification letter to their offices when they were ministers in the Oliled Cabinet, but the petitioners did not respond to the explanation letters issued by the party.
The bench also observed that the petitioners were named as UML members in the UML's internal party directives issued by Oli and they were removed from the Cabinet as a result of the SC order. The SC had ordered that the expansion of the Cabinet by Oli after the dissolution of the House of Representatives was against the constitution.
The bench refused to issue an interim order saying that the questions raised about the CPN- MC's decision regarding the defection of the petitioners would be dealt in the final hearing on the case.
Nearly four months after their expulsion, the four leaders moved the court stating that they still belonged to the CPN- MC and had not abandoned the party, seeking to revoke their expulsion from the House.
The four Maoist leaders, along with the then home minister Ram Bahadur Thapa, had abandoned their party to join the Oliled government and had even defended his move dissolving the Parliament.
A version of this article appears in the print on August 3 2021, of The Himalayan Times.
