Almost a week after Nepal President Bidya Devi Bhandari dissolved parliament, Nepal’s Supreme Court Chief Justice Cholendra Shumsher Rana has assigned 19 writ petitions challenging the dissolution of parliament to his bench, reported The Himalayan Times. 

Overall, 30 petitions have been filed in the apex court against the decision. The chief justice-led bench would hear all 19 petitions where the president was made a defendant.  

Last week, Nepal President Bidya Devi Bhandari, dissolved parliament--the second time in the last five months-- and called fresh elections. However, Sher Bahadur Deuba, opposition leader and chief of the main opposition party, Nepal Congress, moved the country’s Supreme Court

He claimed that he had presented a claim to form a majority government with signed support letters from MPs. Despite the claim, the president went on to dissolve the house which, he alleged, was unconstitutional.

On Monday this week, Madhav Nepal, a senior leader of CPN-UML- a party led by Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli, and other 21 rebel MPs, had also signed an opposition petition, challenging the house dissolution in the Supreme Court. 

All the rebel MPs, including Madhav Nepal, were expelled from the party by Oli on Sunday, and the faction vowed to register themselves as a separate political party, resulting in the second split of the Communist Party in Nepal in the last five months.   

(SAM)