KATHMANDU: Nepal's Supreme Court on Thursday began preliminary hearing on petitions against the dissolution of the House of Representatives and rejection of Opposition leader Sher Bahadur Deuba's claim by the President for the post of prime minister.
As many as 30 petitions, including the one by the Opposition alliance, have been filed at the Supreme Court, challenging Friday's House dissolution, the Kathmandu Post reported.
President Bidya Devi Bhandari dissolved the 275-member House of Representatives on Saturday for the second time in five months and announced snap elections on November 12 and November 19 on the advice of Prime Minister K P Sharma Oli, heading a minority government.
She rejected the bids of both embattled Prime Minister Oli and the Opposition alliance's claims to form a government.
Oli and Nepali Congress President Deuba had staked separate claims to the premiership, saying the "claims were insufficient."
Nepal's Opposition alliance on Monday filed a writ petition in the Supreme Court demanding restoration of the House of Representatives and appointment of Deuba as the Prime Minister.
Others had also filed petitions against the dissolution of the House of Representatives.
A single bench of Chief Justice Cholendra Sumsher Rana is conducting the preliminary hearing on 19 petitions demanding an interim order against the dissolution of the House.
The hearing on the remaining 11 petitions that were filed at the Constitutional Bench will begin on Friday.
"Today's preliminary hearing will decide whether to send the 19 petitions to the Constitutional Bench," Kishor Poudel, a communication expert at the Supreme Court, told the Post.
"If it does so, the Constitutional Bench will hear all the petitions."
The Constitution envisions a five-member Constitutional Bench which is led by Chief Justice Rana.
The members of the bench are selected by Rana.
Earlier on December 20, the President had dissolved the Parliament and called snap polls on April 30 and May 10.
However, two months later, the Rana-led Constitutional Bench on February 23 overturned the decision and reinstated the House.
Constitutional experts have criticised Oli and Bhandari for their complicity in trampling upon the Constitution.
Nepal plunged into a political crisis on December 20 last year after President Bhandari dissolved the House and announced fresh elections on April 30 and May 10 at the recommendation of Prime Minister Oli, amidst a tussle for power within the ruling Nepal Communist Party (NCP).
Oli's move to dissolve the House sparked protests from a large section of the NCP led by his rival Pushpa Kamal Dahal 'Prachanda'.
In February, the apex court reinstated the dissolved House, in a setback to Oli who was preparing for snap polls.