The Supreme Court (SC) has sent the petition against appointment of CPN-UML Chairman KP Sharma Oli as prime minister (PM) by President Ram Chandra Paudel as per Article 76(2) of the Constitution to its constitutional bench.
The single bench of Justice Bal Krishna Dhakal on Sunday has sent the petition to the constitutional bench pointing that the petition has raised serious questions of interpretation of the Constitution.
The SC uses drawing of lottery for assigning cases to different benches but the constitutional bench is picked by the chief justice.
Advocate Deepak Adhikari, Khagendra Chapagai and Shailendra Kumar Gupta had moved the SC on July 14 against the invitation by President Paudel to form the new government and the letter issued to that regard, and to stop swearing in of Oli as PM.
The petitioners have argued that the new PM should be appointed as per Article 76(3) of the Constitution, after Pushpa Kamal Dahal appointed PM as per Article 76(2) of the Constitution could not pass the floor test.
“In cases where no party has a clear majority in the House of Representatives under clause (1), the President shall appoint as the Prime Minister a member of the House of Representatives who can command majority with the support of two or more parties representing to the House of Representatives,” states Article 76(2) of the Constitution.
Article 76(3) of the Constitution has the provision of appointing parliamentary party leader of the largest party in the House as the PM.
“In cases where the Prime Minister cannot be appointed pursuant to clause (2) within thirty days after the date of declaration of the final results of election to the House of Representatives or where the Prime Minister so appointed fails to secure a vote of confidence pursuant to clause (4), the President shall appoint as the Prime Minister the leader of the parliamentary party which has the highest number of members in the House of Representatives,” states Article 76(3) of the Constitution.
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