KATHMANDU, JULY 8

Samajwadi Party-Nepal today wrote a letter to the Parliament Secretariat stating that it had expelled lawmaker Sarita Giri from the House of Representatives.

Assistant Spokesperson for the Parliament Secretariat Dasharath Dahamala said his office would inform Speaker Agni Prasad Sapkota about the letter and would probably write a letter to the Election Commission to inform about the vacation of Giri’s seat.

Giri was elected under proportional representation election system. After Giri’s removal from the House of Representatives, another member of Khas Arya cluster, who was right behind Giri in the seniority list of the PR would be elected party’s new lawmaker.

The SP-N decided yesterday to expel Giri from both the party and the House of Representatives for violating the party’s whip.

Despite the party’s whip, Giri did not take part in the voting process when the constitution amendment bill registered to depict Limpiyadhura, Lipulekh and Kalapani in the national emblem was put to vote in the HoR on June 13.

Giri had also registered an amendment proposal against the constitution amendment bill seeking to know the basis for the constitution amendment bill.

She had told media outlets that Nepal did not have enough evidence to prove that Limpiyadhura, Lipulekh and Kalapani fell within Nepal’s boundaries.

Giri has said she would file a case at the Supreme Court challenging her party’s decision to expel her from the party and the HoR.

Spokesperson for the Election Commission Raj Kumar Shrestha said his office will seek recommendation for the vacant post from the SP-N after getting a letter from the Parliament Secretariat confirming that Giri’s seat had fallen vacant for certain reasons.

“The SP-N can recommend its next candidate, but the power to take a call on the election rests with the EC,” said Shrestha, adding that generally the PR candidates were selected on the basis of priority lists submitted to the EC.

“We will determine whether or not the candidate recommended by the party falls within the specific cluster and whether or not the candidate is eligible for election at present,” he added.

A version of this article appears in e-paper on July 9, 2020, of The Himalayan Times.