By Our Reporter
Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli has been accused of dissolving the House of Representatives for not holding the elections on the scheduled dates of April 30 and May 10, but to consolidate his position in the government and his divided party. Slowly, this allegation is turning to be true because holding elections on the scheduled dates is now next to impossible.
The Election Commission has not initiated any process to hold the elections. Moreover, the EC manned by an insider of Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli seems deliberately delaying to hold the polls, because holding elections by May 10 means throwing Oli not only out of government but also from the political scene for at least five years. Otherwise, the EC should not have given a controversial decision regarding the official recognition of the Nepal Communist Party. When it recognised its 441–member central committee of the party, why it denied accepting the decision of the two-thirds members of the central committee and gave such decision which could prevent both factions of the NCP.
The inability of the Election Commission to give the status of official NCP to one of its factions has only made the elections impossible. Now they have no time to register a new party, and one cannot imagine elections will be possible when the ruling party cannot contest this. The EC that probably worked in the design of the Oli-led faction while giving its decision on party status is now in the trap of the same decision. Nepali Congress president Sher Bahadur Deuba has also expressed his ire for not initiating the election process.
Unless the EC gives a concrete decision on the issue of official recognition of the NCP or gives them time to register a new party, elections will be impossible. Even if it gives time to register a new party, one or both factions could file cases in court, which will further delay elections, and if the elections are not held by mid-June (within six months of House dissolution) the country will plunge into a constitutional crisis. Obviously, Prime Minister Oli and President Bidya Devi Bhandari will face blame for inviting the crisis. Even NC president Sher Bahadur Deuba can be made responsible for the crisis for refuting to launch a joint struggle against the unconstitutional House dissolution.
Of course, the inability to hold the elections by mid-June will make the Constitution failed. Here, one thing is noteworthy to mention that when Sher Bahadur Deuba dissolved the House in 2002 and failed to hold elections, the Constitution of 1990 failed. Such a situation could repeat although there is no king to take over this time.
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