Nepal SC issues show cause on pleas challenging dissolution of Parliament

Kathmandu, Dec 25: Nepal's Supreme Court has issued show cause notices on a plea that challenged the dissolution of Parliament.

Earlier this week the court had referred the petitions to a Constitutional Bench. A 5-member bench led by Chief Justice Cholendra Shumsher J B Rana are hearing the matter.

K P Oli's opponents moved the Supreme Court challenging the dissolution of Parliament. They have termed the decision taken by Oli as a constitutional coup.

Under the Constitution, the Prime Minister has no prerogative to dissolve Parliament, lawyer Dinesh Tripathi, one of the petitioners said.

On Sunday Oli announced that he would be dissolving the Parliament. The decision taken by Nepal's Prime Minister, K P Oli to dissolve Parliament would give him a free hand to run the government also split the party formed in 2018 by the merger of his Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist-Leninist) with the Prachanda's Communist Party of Nepal-Maoist Centre.

Oli's rival Pushpa Kumar Dahal a.k.a Prachanda has been trying to get the upper hand. There have been several rounds of revolts against Oli, with the Prachanda faction demanding a greater say in the government. Oli on the other hand had refused to give in and had given several hints about splitting the party.