As political crisis continues to simmer in Nepal,the Supreme Court today issued a show-cause notice to the Maoist-led government over the announcement of fresh elections for Constituent Assembly,giving it 10 days to reply. Noting that the matter bore serious constitutional questions and public concern,the single bench of Justice Tahir Ali Ansari said a special bench should hear the case. He has drawn attention of the Chief Justice towards the matter. A Public Interest Litigation was filed yesterday by an advocate challenging the call for fresh elections on November 22 after warring political parties failed to promulgate a new constitution by the May 27 deadline. The defendants including Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai,Office of the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers,have been ordered to submit their written clarification within 10 days. In his petition,the lawyer argued the move for early election was unconstitutional as the Interim Constitution neither provisioned for electing the CA again nor it was amended to pave the way for elections. Meanwhile,16 Nepalese opposition parties have joined hands to ask President Ram Baran Yadav to dismiss the country's Maoist caretaker regime and replace it with National Consensus government.
