Nepal's Top Court Reinstates Parliament Dissolved By President

Nepal’s Supreme Court has reinstated the country’s dissolved parliament and called for the appointment of opposition leader Sher Bahadur Deuba as the new prime minister, one of the lawyers which brought the case said, Deutsche Presse-Agentur (dpa) reported.

The court's verdict issued Monday says that Deuba should be appointed prime minister within two days, according to Dinesh Tripathi, a lawyer and one of the petitioners. The court has also ordered the start of a new session of the House of Representatives within a week.

“It's a historic verdict that has saved both the country and the constitution,” Tripathi told dpa. The opposition had asked the court for a ruling after President Bidya Devi Bhandari in May dissolved parliament for the second time in less than six months.

The opposition bloc argues that parliament was dissolved before Deuba, the president of the Nepali Congress party, had had a chance to form a government.

It accuses Bhandari of dissolving parliament at the request of Prime Minister Khadga Prasad Sharma Oli, who is seen as an ally of the president.

The verdict, therefore, is a major blow for Oli, who has been struggling to retain his post after a split in the ruling Nepal Communist Party. The verdict also means that there will be no snap election as previously announced by Bhandari.

Even if Deuba is given a chance to form a government, he would still need to show that he can command a majority in parliament. It is unclear whether the lawmakers who supported him before the dissolution of parliament would still support him now.

WEEKLY FEATURE : PAL READY TO SOAR WITH PANDEMIC