KATHMANDU: Advocate Gobinda Sharma ‘Bandi’ has raised questions about justice Bam Bahadur Shrestha’s inclusion in the constitutional bench formed to hear writ petitions related to the dissolution of the House of Representatives.

Before starting his debate on the hearing on the writ petitions on Friday, Advocate Bandi questioned the participation of Justice Shrestha saying the participation of the justice who divided the Communist Party of Nepal into two factions could grow concern on the fairness of the hearing.

“Erstwhile ruling Nepal Communist Party was torn in two under Shrestha’s bench,” Bandi said, adding, “How can the case not be affected by the presence of someone who has a conflict of interest in the case?”

After Bandi’s concern, the hearing has been adjourned till Sunday.

Chief Justice Cholendra Shamsher Rana requested the advocates not to raise questions about the individuals.

Hearing of the writ petitions filed against the dissolution of the House of Representatives has begun in the Constitutional Bench.

The hearing has started in the five-member bench headed by Chief Justice Cholendra Shamsher Rana.

Chief Justice Rana had earlier assigned a five-judge constitutional bench, including him, to hear the case of dissolution of the House of Representatives.

Rana had formed a constitutional bench comprising Justices Deepak Kumar Karki, Ananda Mohan Bhattarai, Tej Bahadur KC and Bam Kumar Shrestha.

CJ Rana had assigned the bench from the roster of 12 judges to hear the case of dissolution of the House of Representatives for the second time.

CJ Rana on Thursday had sent the 19 writ petitions concerning the dissolution of the HoR to the constitutional bench after a preliminary hearing on the petitions.

Likewise, the bench will also hear other 11 petitions that have been registered with the constitutional bench.

As many as 30 petitions have been registered demanding the reinstatement of the House of Representatives.

A total of 146 lawmakers from Nepali Congress (NC), CPN (Maoist Center), Nepal-Khanal faction of CPN-UML, Yadav-Bhattarai faction of Janata Samajwadi Party (JSP) and Rastriya Janamorcha Nepal have jointly filed a writ petition seeking reinstatement of the HoR.

President Bidya Bhandari had dissolved the parliament at the wee hours on Saturday (May 22) and announced mid-term elections for November 12 and November 19 on the recommendation of the cabinet.