KATHMANDU, SEPTEMBER 25
Chair of National Assembly Ganesh Prasad Timilsina has locked horns with Speaker Agni Prasad Sapkota by writing to the secretary general of the Parliament Secretariat, telling him not to execute decisions taken by Speaker Agni Prasad Sapkota as the office bearer of Federal Parliament Operation and Management Committee on September 21.
The committee had taken some administrative decisions but on that day Timilsina, who also sits on the panel, did not attend the meeting as he was out of Kathmandu.
A letter was written to secretary general on behalf of NA Chair Timilsina, saying that the chairman was of the view that the tenure of the House of Representatives ended on September 17, a day before the parties submitted their lists of proportional representation candidates for parliamentary elections scheduled for November 20. The NA chair quoted the EC's letter wherein the poll panel said the tenure of the HoR should be determined on the basis of constitutional provisions, prevailing laws, and past practices.
The NA had written a letter to the EC on September 22 seeking to know when the tenure of the speaker, the deputy speaker, and members of the HoR would end as November 20 elections, as well as the election schedule, had already been announced. The EC responded to the NA's letter on September 23.
The EC quoted constitutional and legal provisions that govern the tenure of lawmakers, especially articles 86 (4) and 87 (3) of the constitution.
Article 86 (4) of the constitution stipulates that the tenure of all members of the National Assembly for the first time after the commencement of this constitution shall be deemed to have commenced on the day on which the first session of the National Assembly is held.
Article 87 (3), on the other hand, stipulates that in case a person who holds a political office to be filled by way of election, nomination, or appointment and is elected or nominated as a member of the Federal Parliament, his or her office shall automatically fall vacant the day the oath of office is taken by new members of the Federal Parliament.
On September 23, the Election Commission wrote to the National Assembly that fixing the tenure of the speaker and deputy speaker was not its job. The EC wrote that a decision related to the end of the speaker's and the deputy speaker's tenure should be taken on the basis of constitutional provisions, relevant laws, and parliamentary practices. The poll panel wrote the two-page letter to the NA in response to NA's letter to the poll panel on September 22 to clearly state when the tenure of the speaker and the deputy speaker would end.
The EC also stated that its election code of conduct made it clear that the existing members of the HoR, provincial assemblies, and local governments will not remain in their posts if they file candidacy for provincial and parliamentary elections scheduled for November 20.
Although the constitution stipulates that the HoR will have a five-year tenure, neither the constitution nor prevailing laws clearly state when HoR members' term begins. The government brought a new bill to define the beginning and end of HoR members' term, but due to opposition parties' protest, the government had to drop provisions of the bill.
President Bidhya Devi Bhandari prorogued the session of the Parliament on September 17. Political leaders delivered their parting speech in the HoR, but no authentic body has yet announced that the HoR's five-year term has ended.
Some lawyers argue that since the constitution did not stipulate when the HoR tenure would begin, the analogy of Article 86 (4) should apply in the case of HoR members and their tenure is computed from the day they take their oath of office and secrecy after the last general election.
A source close to Speaker Sapkota said the NA chair acted irresponsibly when he wrote to the EC seeking to know the tenure of the HoR. The source said the tenure issue was sub judice in the SC and the apex court issued a show cause notice today, but did not issue an interim order. That notice should silence those who thought that the tenure of the HoR ended on September 17. The source said Timilsina, who was associated with the CPN-UML in the past, was acting at the UML's behest by unnecessarily raising the issue of the speaker and the deputy speaker's tenure.
A version of this article appears in the print on September 26, 2022 of The Himalayan Times.
