Kathmandu, June 2: The main opposition party, the Nepali Congress, has formed a shadow government to monitor the activities of the nearly two thirds majority government.
In parliamentary systems, the principal opposition party assigns its lawmakers to oversee specific ministries and scrutinize the government’s work. This arrangement is known as a shadow government.
The Nepali Congress has designated shadow ministers for each ministry to strengthen its role in Parliament.
Basana Thapa, chief whip of the Nepali Congress Parliamentary Party, said the move was being implemented in line with the party’s parliamentary statute. “The shadow government has been formed to closely monitor the government’s activities and fulfill the role of a responsible opposition,” she said.
The party has adopted the concept of ministry level coordination committees within the shadow government framework.
The Nepali Congress previously practiced this model in 2019 under the leadership of former party president and then opposition leader Sher Bahadur Deuba, when it formally established a shadow government, also called ministry coordination committees.
The party had also adopted a similar subject-based shadow government approach after the 2008 Constituent Assembly elections.
Earlier, in 1991, when the Nepali Congress held a comfortable parliamentary majority, the then main opposition party, Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist–Leninist), formed a shadow government under the leadership of Manmohan Adhikari to monitor the government.
In the past, when it served as the main opposition, Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist Centre) also adopted a shadow government style approach by convening all party meetings on contemporary issues and exerting pressure on the government.
Shadow governments have appeared periodically in Nepal’s political history. However, the practice has yet to develop into a strong and institutionalized tradition. While opposition parties have occasionally formed shadow governments, the system has not been maintained in a regular, organized, or effective manner.
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People’s News Monitoring Service
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