Three months after the demise of Nepalese Constituent Assembly (CA), Nepal is still searching for an outlet to end the political deadlock.

After the dissolution of the four-year-old CA on May 27 this year,many legal issues in Nepal have surfaced in its absence. The CA was dissolved after it failed the major task for which it was formed-drafting a new constitution.

LEGAL HURDLES

The foremost legal issue that forged challenges in the Nepalese system was when caretaker Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai after the dissolution of the CA announced a fresh CA polls for November 22 this year.

Bhattarai, a senior leader from Unified Communist Party of Nepal-Maoists (UCPN-M), has been leading the caretaker government.

It raised a lot of criticism from the opposition political parties mainly Nepali Congress (NC) and the Communist Party of Nepal Unified Marxist Leninist (CPN-UML) who have been saying that the Prime Minister no longer holds his position as he was nominated by the CA which has already been dissolved.

Although no provisions in the interim constitution directly supports the argument of the opposition leaders, Article 38 of the interim constitution of Nepal suggests that the Prime Minister, Ministers and State Ministers will be relieved from their office if they cease to be a member of the Legislature Parliament (LP).

The interim constitution had provisioned that the CA would perform the task of a Legislature Parliament.

In this case, although Prime Minister and his cabinet did not cease to be a member of the LP, they automatically became former members of the CA.

While debate and arguments on this issue continues, the President and the Prime Minister have still been holding their positions calling for a national and political consensus.

Student organizations affiliated to different political parties mainly CPN-UML has been conducting phase-wise protest programs demanding the resignation of PM Bhattarai.

ELECTORAL PROVISION

On June 15 a high level committee formed to study the possibilities of elections on November 22 concluded that the Election Commission (EC)of Nepal could not hold the November 22 elections until and unless few amendments were made in the interim constitution.

The EC also gave a deadline to the Prime Minister to figure out ways to take care of the legal hurdles in elections owing to the constitutional vacuum in the nation. However, the deadline was not met and the task failed.

Likewise, members of the cabinet have been stating that the government will announce fresh new dates for elections and make necessary arrangements.

Majority of the political parties, mainly those in opposition have announced to refrain from the elections called by Bhattarai led government. According to them, the election would be an unconstitutional one.

CONSTITUTIONAL VACUUM

The absence of a legislature parliament has also left few key issues linger.

The issue of the integration of former People's Liberation Army (PLA) a combat force of the Maoists when they were at war into the Nepal army has been stalled.

Political parties and lawmakers along with the institute of Nepal Army failed to come into a consensus regarding the criteria for the former PLA members. As a result, the process which had almost entered into its final stages had to be stalled.

Similarly, in absence of a fully functional administration, the government on July 14 was bound to release a special budget of 1.8 billion US dollars through ordinance. The special budget allows expenditure plan only for four months. The budget, however, does not allow any programs for economic expansion.

Similarly, the issue of ethnic federalism, which was the key issue that failed to draw a consensus until the end of the CA term is still waiting to be resolved.

Smaller and minority ethnic political parties in large numbers have been formed to make their ethnic demands. There are more than 25 registered political parties in Nepal.

These parties have been demanding boundaries in which states would be based on ethnicity in order to ensure that minor ethnic groups will also benefit from greater political power.

Opponents of this idea have been arguing that such a federal structure would only divide the country.

CONSTITUTIONAL ALTERNATIVE

Although the ultimate resolution to the crisis is possible only through a consensus among the political parties and leaders, the legal difficulties are still hard to address.

Opposition parties are often times blaming the Prime Minister for dissolving the CA and announcing the fresh polls without first consulting the electoral provisions in the CA.

Meanwhile, political analyst and leader of NC, Devendra Nepali told Xinhua that the only solution to the constitutional vacuum is to revive the 1990 constitution.

"The CA's task was to draft the constitution. Since it failed to do so, the 1990 constitution should be by default revived to end the deadlock," Nepali said while referring to similar cases in world history.

No provisions, however, clearly state about such consequences.

Legal experts and leaders have been working on finding a legal outlet to the situation, but every proposition on the elections are ruled out by uncertainty owing to constitutional vacuum.

Likewise, different sections of the society urged President Ram Baran Yadav to play an active role in the current political crisis. The president, however, responded by saying that he would only exercise powers that were governed to him by the interim constitution.

In the given contexts, the political parties need to forge a concrete consensus that will help in resolving the tough ordeals in the nation.