Pradeep Paudel Criticizes Prime Minister Balendra Shah’s Tenure for Weakening Parliamentary System

April 13, Kathmandu — Nepali Congress General Secretary Pradeep Paudel has criticized the one-and-a-half-month tenure of Prime Minister Balendra Shah (Balen), asserting that it has weakened Nepal’s parliamentary system. Paudel expressed his views on Wednesday through a Facebook post titled “The Dissolution of Sovereign Parliament: A Brutal Assault on Democracy.”

“The recent one-and-a-half-month term of the Prime Minister has further compromised parliamentary governance and democratic accountability,” Paudel wrote. “Despite having a convenient majority, bypassing the parliament through ordinances, violating fundamental laws via procedural regulations, boycotting the government’s policy speeches delivered by the honorable President, and failing to attend parliamentary sessions to answer MPs are not minor lapses.”

He described these sequential incidents as a ruthless attack on established parliamentary practices, constitutional provisions, and democracy itself. “The executive’s casual attitude towards ordinary citizens and the entire state is exceedingly irresponsible,” he added.

Paudel highlighted that when leaders elected from the nation’s supreme representative body, the parliament, fail to uphold even their minimal responsibilities, it severely weakens state accountability. “Regardless of personal disposition, individuals holding public office must adhere to the dignity and discipline mandated by the state,” he stressed. “Disregarding established laws, protocols, and codes of conduct in favor of arbitrariness represents a profound degradation of institutional dignity.”

He warned that Prime Minister Balen’s conduct increases the risk of pushing the country’s entire political sphere toward chaos. “Actions that disregard the minimum foundational values of the state and dissolve the sovereign parliament cannot be accepted within a democratic system,” Paudel concluded in his statement.