By Our Reporter
The ruling coalition of the Maoist Centre has faced a setback in Gandaki after their efforts to expel Assembly member Phanindra Devkota was foiled by the Supreme Court.
The Maoist Centre decided to expel Devkota for voting in favour of Chief Minister Surendra Raj Pandey during the vote of confidence by breaching the party whip. But an interim order of the Supreme Court asked the Speaker of the Gandaki Provincial Assembly to allowDevkota to work as a member of the Provincial Assembly of Gandaki. Moreover, the order said that the Maoist Centre had no right to expel him as he did not belong to the CPN (Maoist Centre). He was elected to the Assembly from the Baburam-led party Nepal Socialist Party by taking the election symbol of the Maoist Centre from Gorkha.
A single bench of Justice Prakash Man Singh Raut issued the order on Monday asking the Speaker of the Gandaki Provincial Assembly not to implement the action taken by the CPN (Maoist Centre) against Devkota and allow him to continue to work as a Provincial Assembly member.
Earlier, Devkota had filed a writ against Gandaki Province Speaker Krishna Prasad Dhital and others demanding an interim order against his expulsion from the position of a member of the Provincial Assembly.
Senior advocates Harihar Dahal, Badri Bahadur Karki, Sambhu Thapa, Prem Bahadur Khadka, Sher Bahadur KC and 25 other lawyers had advocated on behalf of Devkota.
Likewise, senior advocates Mukti Narayan Pradhan, Ram Narayan Bidari, Bishwo Prakash Bhandari, Ramesh Badal, Shreekant Baral and advocate Dal Bahadur Biswhwokarma advocated from the defendant’s side, the central office of the CPN (Maoist Centre).
According to the SC order, the CPN (Maoist Centre) did not have the constitutional and legal authority to expel Devkota as he was not its party member. It stated that the official documents were evident that Devkota was elected to the Provincial Assembly from the Nepal Socialist Party.
Although Devkota contested the election taking the symbol of the CPN (Maoist Centre), his nomination paper as a candidate, the certificate provided by the Election Commission and a notice published in the Nepal Gazette on December 15, 2022, clearly showed he was a member of Nepal Socialist Party, read the order.
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