KATHMANDU, Nov 14: Contrary to their previous commitment to forward the impeachment motion for voting, the major political parties and Speaker Onsari Gharti are seen to be deliberately prolonging the impeachment process against Lokman Singh Karki, suspended chief of the CIAA.
Deliberations on the impeachment motion started on October 25 but have not concluded yet. Only three dozen lawmakers have taken part in the deliberations as of Monday and over three dozen others have yet to state their views. The number is expected to increase further.
Sources privy to the development said the political parties are awaiting a court verdict since the case against Karki is sub judice. The apex court has set October 1 as the date for starting hearings on the Karki case.
Press advisor to Speaker Gharti, Basudev Sharma, said the speaker is planning to conclude the deliberations by Friday. “As she is leaving for Russia for a week-long visit on Saturday she is planning to forward the impeachment motion to the Impeachment Recommendation Committee prior to that,” said Sharma.
House to start deliberations on impeachment motion from Tuesday
Only 13 lawmakers had taken part on the first day and over a dozen aired their views on the second day on November 11. According to the parliament secretariat, nine lawmakers took part in the deliberations on Monday. The House meeting on Monday adjourned for Wednesday despite the long list of lawmakers waiting to air their views.
CPN (Maoist Center) lawmaker Bhakti Prasad Pandey passed away on Monday and the next House meeting is unlikely to continue the deliberations only after passing a condolence motion.
“If the chief whips of major political parties didn't instructed their lawmakers to withdraw their names and not register more names it will be difficult to conclude the discussions by Friday,” said a source at the parliament secretariat.
Main opposition party Nepali Congress (NC), which hasn't signed the impeachment motion, has been insisting on endorsing the constitution amendment proposal from Parliament simultaneously. “It will be better if we could finalize both the impeachment motion and constitution amendment proposal simultaneously,” said NC Chief Whip Chinkaji Shrestha.
Some lawmakers have expressed fear that Karki may try to influence lawmakers in his favor if the deliberations are prolonged for no particular reason. Earlier, none of the lawmakers speaking in the House had spoken in favor of Karki. But at Monday's House meeting, NC lawmakers Mohan Bahadur Basnet and Jagdishwor Narshing KC spoke in favor of Karki.
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