KATHMANDU, AUGUST 2
Four Karnali Assembly lawmakers representing the CPN-UML lost their assembly seats today as the Supreme Court quashed its interim order issued on June 10 against the UML's decision to remove them from the party.
Consequently, the four lawmakers - Prakash Jwala, Amar Bahadur Thapa, Nanda Singh Budha, and Kurmaraj Shahi - who had crossed the floor during the trust vote sought by Chief Minister Mahendra Bahadur Shahi have lost their assembly seats.
A division bench of Chief Justice Cholendra Shumsher JB Rana and Justice Prakash Kumar Dhungana quashed the apex court's interim order in response to a writ petition filed by UML Chair KP Sharma Oli.
The bench observed that the UML Parliamentary Committee of Karnali Province that Prakash Jwala and other defendants were part of had unanimously decided to vote against Chief Minister Shahi, yet the four lawmakers crossed the floor on April 16 violating sections 28 and 32 of the Political Party Act.
Prakash Jwala, Amar Bahadur Thapa, Nanda Singh Budha, and Kurmaraj Shahi, who belong to the UML faction led by Madhav Kumar Nepal-Jhalanth Khanal, had crossed the floor during vote of confidence when the factional feud between the establishment and the rival faction intensified. The bench observed that the four lawmakers' defiance of party whip was against democratic culture, the constitution, and sections 28 and 32 of the Political Party Act.
The Nepal-Khanal faction of the UML had accused Oli of arbitrarily amending the party statute, reshuffling party committees, and promoting factionalism.
A version of this article appears in the print on August 3 2021, of The Himalayan Times.
