Social Studies Note for Grade X | Unit- 7 | Lesson- 7 Political Events After 2062/63 BS

Political Events After 2062/63 BS

After the royal proclamation of 11th Baishakh, 2063 BS, the dissolved parliament (House of Representatives) was reinstated and democracy was restored. On 15th Baishakh, 2063 BS, the meeting of reinstated House of Representative was held. New government under the premiership of Girija Prasad Koirala was formed. On 4th Jestha 2063 BS, the meeting of House of Representative made a Historical Declaration of House of Representatives.

The major points of the declarations were:

1. All the Powers regarding legislature of Nepal shall be exercised by the House of Representatives.
2. The House of Representatives shall, as per necessity, specify the procedures for moving to the path of Constituent Assembly.
3. All the executive powers of Nepal shall be vested on the Council of Ministers. From now onwards ‘His Majesty's Government’ shall be mentioned as ‘Government of Nepal’.
4. The title ‘Royal Nepal Army shall be changed to ‘Nepal Army’.
5. Chief of the Army Staff of the Nepalese Army shall be appointed by the Council of Ministers.
6. The power to make, amend and repeal laws regarding the succession to the throne shall be vested on the House of Representatives.
7. The private property and income of His Majesty the King shall be taxable pursuant to the law.
8. A question over the acts performed by His Majesty may be raised in the House of Representatives and in court.
9. The existing national anthem shall be changed by making alternative arrangements.
10. Nepal shall be a secular state.
11. The legal arrangements of the Constitution of the Kingdom of Nepal-1990 and other prevailing laws, with this declaration, shall be void to the extent of inconsistency.
12. Any difficulty that may arise while implementing this declaration shall be removed by a decision of The House of Representatives.

Agreement between the Maoist and the Government of Nepal on 5th Mangsir 2063 BS and declaration of ending the 10 year people's war launched by the Maoist in 2052 BS were made. On the consent of the Maoist and seven parties, the Interim Constitution of Nepal-2063 was promulgated on 1st Magh 2063 BS as a document of political consensus.

The election for Constitution Assembly-I was held on 28th Chaitra 2064 BS. The first meeting of Constituent Assembly declared Nepal as Republican State on 15th Jestha, 2065 BS and ended centuries-long monarchy. After this declaration, the then King Gyanendra made a public address and left the throne voluntarily. Then, Dr. Ram Baran Yadav, the leader of Nepali Congress was elected as the first President on 6th Shrawan 2065 BS and similarly, Puspa Kamal Dahal (Prachanda), the leader of the largest party (CPN, Maoist) in Constituent Assembly became the first Prime Minister of Republic of Nepal on 31st Shrawan 2065 BS. But, the country's political situation started to deteriorate and political turmoil continued. After Puspa Kamal Dahal (Prachanda), Madhav Kumar Nepal (on 11 th Jesth, 2066 BS), Jhalanath Khanal (on 23rd Magh, 2067 BS) and Dr. Baburam Bhattarai (on Bhadra, 2068 BS) became the Prime Ministers of Nepal.

The Constituent Assembly-I was dissolved on 14th Jestha 2069 BS without completing its major task i.e. writing constitution in the country during the premiership of Dr. Baburam Bhattarai. The four years’ long effort of political parties to maintain consensus, collaboration and unity was not effective enough for the formulation of constitution from the constituent assembly.

Constitution could not be formulated from the Constituent Assembly-I due to the following reasons:

1. Disagreement of political parties on several issues.
2. Crisis of understanding, beliefs, maturity, experience, feeling of responsibility, etc. in political parties.
3. Interest of political parties on forming and dissolving the government rather than drafting constitution.
4. Negligence of political parties to the mandate and spirit of people's movement