KATHMANDU, May 24 (Xinhua) -- An alliance of Nepali opposition parties filed a writ petition with the Supreme Court on Monday, demanding a reinstatement of the dissolved House of Representatives.
"The opposition alliance with the signature of 146 lawmakers has filed the writ petition against the decision to dissolve the house," Kishor Poudel, a communication expert at the Supreme Court, told Xinhua.
"They have also demanded the court's order to appoint Deuba (Nepali Congress President Sher Bahadur Deuba) as the prime minister."
Those involved in the legal action include 61 lawmakers from the Nepali Congress, 49 from the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist Centre), 23 from the Madhav Nepal-Jalanath Khanal faction of the ruling Communist Party of Nepal (United Marxist and Leninist), 12 from the Upendra Yadav-Baburam Bhattarai faction of the Janata Samajbadi Party and one from Rastriya Janamorcha Nepal.
According to Poudel, other advocates have also registered 29 writ petitions against the move to dismiss the lower house.
With support from 149 lawmakers from five parties, Deuba on Friday presented his claim for the premiership as demanded by President Bidya Devi Bhandari since Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli thought he could not garner a vote of trust in the lower house after he was renamed to head the government on May 13.
Like Deuba, Oli also made a claim for heading the government, saying he had the support of 153 members of the lower house. Bhandari, however, rejected both claims and dissolved the house on Saturday for fresh elections.
Bhandari, as recommended by Oli, dissolved the lower house on Dec. 20 last year, but the decision was overturned by the Supreme Court on Feb. 23.
The House of Representatives, which has 271 members, was formed in elections held in November and December in 2017 with a five-year mandate. Enditem
