View from the Himalayas | Nepal's fragmented Parliament struggles with governance amid political turmoil

PM Prachanda's coalition with KP Oli's CPN-UML has been fraught with challenges, while the main opposition, Nepali Congress, continues to mount pressure

In any vibrant parliamentary democracy, ruling and opposition parties constantly nit-pick each other over various issues. Sometimes they argue over significant matters, while other times they quarrel over trivial ones. But that's how democracies function: sometimes, you need to win; and sometimes, you need to be seen winning.

Even by those standards, Nepal’s Parliament is almost unique in its functioning, perhaps the most visibly significant public forum. The works and intricacies of the other branches of government – the executive and the judiciary – don’t always come under public scrutiny.

Here's how nearly every second session of Parliament has unfolded in Nepal for decades: instead of serious deliberations and discussions on bills – the legislature's primary responsibility – long hours are lost on deeply partisan political grandstanding. To the average Nepali following the House proceedings, these dramas have unfortunately become the essence of Parliament.

A typical day in the House involves opposition party MPs walking to the well, chanting slogans against ruling party leaders or the Prime Minister. Marshals rush to protect the Speaker to allow the House to continue, the Speaker calls for order from the high chair, and the melee continues. Exasperated, the Speaker adjourns the House. Newspapers the next day run pictures of the commotion. And the routine continues for days and weeks.

Even by these poor standards, the last few weeks have been overly dramatic. The main opposition, Nepali Congress, blocked the House for weeks, demanding a parliamentary committee investigate Home Minister Ravi Lamichhane’s alleged involvement in a cooperative scam.

Nepali Congress and other opposition MPs claimed that Lamichhane embezzled funds from a cooperative firm. This is hardly an isolated story. There are reports that billions of rupees have been embezzled by cooperative owners across the country.

The fact that the Nepali Congress has mounted a serious campaign against a powerful minister, who also heads the fourth-largest party in Parliament, the Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP), makes it politically significant.

Finally, a five-party probe team was formed early this week and given a three-month tenure to investigate the case. On Tuesday, the House opened after weeks of deadlock, and Finance Minister Barshaman Pun presented the annual budget for the fiscal year 2024-2025.

Meanwhile, there’s been a new twist. Kailash Sirohiya, the Chairman of Kantipur Media Group, was arrested for allegedly holding more than one citizenship card. Thirty-one editors issued a joint statement condemning the arrest, asserting it was an act of political vendetta by the Home Minister for the Group’s vociferous coverage of the cooperative scam. Sirohiya was subsequently released on condition that he would be available for investigation if needed. However, it’s a deeply polarizing subject. Sirohiya has also been criticised on social media and by ruling party leaders for defying a court order and abusing his authority as the owner of what is regarded as the most powerful media house in the country.

All these conflicts should be viewed in a broader context.

Firstly, the 2022 general election resulted in a hung parliament. The main opposition, the Nepali Congress, and Prime Minister Prachanda’s Maoist party were coalition partners until the election. When the NC emerged as the largest party, then Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba, also the NC president, was expected to continue in office. But Prachanda had other ideas. He allied with KP Oli, leader of the Communist Party of Nepal-Unified Marxist Leninist (CPN-UML), and became the prime minister. With only 32 seats in the 275-member lower house, the Prime Minister has already faced a vote of confidence four times – the last one on Monday. Nepal’s constitution requires the prime minister to demonstrate a parliamentary majority each time a ruling party vacates the government.

Secondly, every party is honing its pitch for the general election in nearly three years. The RSP, registered only months before the 2022 election, has 21 seats in Parliament, behind the Big Three – the Nepali Congress, CPN-UML, and the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist Center). RSP President Lamichhane and Vice President Swarnim Wagle won landslide by-elections in early 2023. The NC and others now believe the RPP has lost its political momentum, and Lamichhane is a bruised, down-and-out leader.

This brings us to the third point: no seasoned observer of Nepali politics will pen a political obituary of any politician in a hurry. Let’s look at three veterans

Inspired by the Naxalite movement across the border in West Bengal in the 1970s, Khadga Prasad Sharma Oli (“KP Oli”) started his political career in the eastern Nepal Terai district of Jhapa. In 1973, the young revolutionary was jailed for 14 years on charges of treason. In 2008, when the underground Maoist party joined mainstream politics, many of his CPN-UML comrades, including Oli, lost the election. For years, Oli remained a marginal figure in Nepali politics. But he rebounded strongly in 2017 on a nationalist wave after New Delhi imposed a border blockade on Nepal. The Left Alliance, bringing the CPN-UML and Maoist party together, made sweeping electoral gains, nearly achieving a two-thirds majority in Parliament. Oli then led what has been perhaps the most powerful elected government in Nepal’s history.

In 2008, Pushpa Kamal Dahal, born Ghanashyam Dahal, first became prime minister after the Maoists joined mainstream politics. By 2013, the NC and UML had regained their political footing, a trend that continues. Though his party won only 32 seats in the 275-member lower house in 2022, Prachanda finds himself in the prime minister’s office for the third time.

But the jewel in the crown of political survival goes to Sher Bahadur Deuba. He was repeatedly dumped by then-Nepali Congress president and Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala in the 90s and later sacked by the now-deposed king, Gyanendra, for ‘incompetence.’ Yet, Deuba keeps coming back. He has held the prime minister’s office five times. At 79, many believe he could still become prime minister given the fragile political equation.

There is a ceasefire in Kathmandu for now. The battle lines are drawn, and the war will continue until the next election. Ravi Lamichhane, the Home Minister, has his task cut out.

Akhilesh Upadhyay is former Editor-in-Chief of The Kathmandu Post and Senior Fellow with the Center for Strategic Affairs at IIDS, a Kathmandu-based think tank. The views expressed are personal