Flaws in the constitution?

The Himalayan Times

27 January 2022

Flaws in the constitution?

Constitution of Nepal 2015 is the present governing Constitution of Nepal, which came into effect on September 20, 2015, replacing the Interim Constitution of 2007. Nepal entered into the new political era with the promulgation of this constitution. In doing so, it has formally ended centralized and unitary system of governance, and established a people centered democratic republic federal state. The people of Nepal have become the ultimate sovereign power of the nation.

The Constitution introduces a competitive multi-party democratic system, civic freedom, fundamental rights, human rights, periodic elections, voting rights, full freedom of the press, and an independent judiciary. It provides a vision of a prosperous nation, built on principles of socialism, the rule of law, democratic values, durable peace, good governance and sustainable development. Having said these about the constitution, the five-party coalition government, which used to criticise the Oli led government for not following the constitution, does not seem to be serious and sincere in abiding by the constitutional provisions. Based on the provisions of the constitution, three tiers of general elections were held between May to December of 2017 electing around 35,000 local council representatives, including mayors and deputy mayors.

Now, disputes have surfaced whether the five year term of the then elected local representative would expire in and around May of this year. Article 225 of the constitution has explicitly mentioned that the term of office of the local level elected representatives shall be of five years. According to this, the government has to constitutionally hold the local elections by April as suggested by the Election Commission (EC).

But, the five-party coalition government seems to be intentionally delaying to hold the local elections by wrongly interpreting the constitutional provision, which has been heavily criticized and opposed not only by the main opposition UML but also by the NC faction “NC faction opposes delay in civic poles” (THT, January 25, Page 1). It remains to be seen whether the NC led government, which came to power with the slogan of protecting in both letter and spirit will hold the local elections as suggested by the EC.

Rai Biren Bangdel

Maharajgunj