As Nepal recovers from a wave of deadly protests, its Supreme Court is set to decide the fate of the interim government and dissolved parliament.
Petitions have been filed in Nepal’s Supreme Court challenging the formation of an interim government and the dissolution of parliament following last month’s uprising, a court official said Wednesday.
The youth-led protests, which erupted on September 8 over a brief social media ban, economic hardship and corruption, quickly morphed into nationwide fury after a deadly crackdown.
Two days of violence left at least 73 people dead, the parliament and government offices burned down, and forced the government’s collapse.
Former chief justice Sushila Karki, 73, was nominated as prime minister and the parliament was dissolved shortly after.
But the legality of those moves is now under scrutiny.
Multiple petitions
“Eleven petitions have been filed stating that the formation of the new interim government and the dissolution of the lower house is unconstitutional,” Nirajan Pandey, the court’s information officer told AFP.
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Pandey said procedures were underway to register the petitions, after which hearings would be scheduled.
A day after the dissolution, leaders of eight political parties issued a joint statement calling for the reinstatement of parliament.
“It was not envisioned in the constitution that such a situation would arise,” lawyer Dinesh Tripathi said.
“It is a challenge, but the court will decide.”
Former prime minister among challengers
KP Sharma Oli, the 73-year-old Marxist who served as prime minister four times before his ouster, has called for the reinstatement of the parliament “that was unconstitutionally dissolved”, in an address to supporters earlier this month.
The Supreme Court building was also damaged by fire during the protests, and only resumed full operations on Tuesday, with many sections operating under a tent.
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