DHARAN, FEBRUARY 7
The Provincial Assembly meeting of Province 1 could not take place after lawmakers belonging to the KP Sharma Oli faction of the ruling Nepal Communist Party (NCP) obstructed the assembly meeting.
Due to the lawmakers' obstruction, the no-confidence motion filed against Chief Minister Sherdhan Rai could not be tabled. The Province Assembly session had started on January 20. Today's PA meeting was delayed by two hours owing to a dispute between lawmakers of the ruling NCP.
As soon as the meeting started, NCP Oli faction Chief Whip Buddhiraj Bhandari said that 16 lawmakers suspended by the parliamentary party could not take part in the meeting as their suspension had not been lifted.
Other lawmakers also supported Bhandari by rising from their seats. After that, Speaker Pradip Bhandari decided to postpone the meeting until February 21.
Lawmaker Indra Angbo, who filed the no-confidence motion against the chief minister, said that the decision to put off the meeting for a long time was unfortunate.
Main opposition party Nepali Congress parliamentary party leader Rajiv Koirala said that Speaker Bhandari had pushed the Provincial Assembly into a stalemate in nexus with the government.
"What happened today is unfortunate for democracy as it violates parliamentary norms," said Koirala.
A version of this article appears in the print on February 8, 2021, of The Himalayan Times.
