KATHMANDU: Senior Advocate Tikaram Bhattarai has argued that President Bidya Devi Bhandari could not determine party affiliation of lawmakers as per Article 76 (5) of the Constitution.

The President’s intention seemed mala fide as she tried to determine party affiliation of claimants’ supporters in the provision of Article 76 (5).

“The dissolution of the House this time is different than the last one,” he said, adding,  “The President could not determine who was CPN-UML or who was Nepali Congress. How did she know who was who? As a political leader she might know. But an honorable president need not know that.”

Earlier, Bhattarai, who is also a constitutional expert, argued that the President could not say ‘I don’t want to appoint anyone’ if there are multiple claimants.