Rabi Lamichhane, president of the Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) that emerged as the fourth largest political force after the November 2022 election, has been officially suspended from the position of lawmaker on Monday.

The Federal Parliament Secretariat issued a notice on Monday informing that Lamichhane has been suspended.

After the District Government Attorney Office in Kaski on Sunday filed cases against lawmaker Lamichhane and 30 other individuals at the Kaski District Court in connection with the Suryadarshan Cooperative fraud case, the House suspended his position of lawmaker the next day.

Cooperatives fraud, organised crime and money laundering cases have been filed at the district court against Lamichhane, seeking 15 years of imprisonment and recovery of Rs278.9 million.

Earlier, the Supreme Court had annulled Lamichhane’s position of lawmaker in January 2023 citing the invalidity of the citizenship certificate he produced to contest the parliamentary election. But later in the same year, Lamichhane won the by-election from Chitwan-2 to reclaim his lawmaker position. He had earlier won election from the same constituency.

Before the Parliament Secretariat decided to suspend Lamichhane from his position on Monday, the RSP lawmakers had met Speaker Devraj Ghimire to urge him not to suspend their party president from the position of lawmaker.

RSP chief whip Santosh Pariyar, and leaders Sobita Gautam and Ganesh Parajuli met Ghimire in order to draw his attention.

After a case was registered against Lamichhane in the Kaski District Court for money laundering, cooperatives fraud and organised crime, the District Police Office Kaski had written to the Secretariat of House of Representatives to suspend the lawmaker position of Lamichhane. However, RSP leaders have been claiming that the lawmaker position cannot be suspended just on the basis of a filed case.

“Lawmakers from the RSP had come to meet Speaker Ghimire to urge him not to suspend Lamichhane,” said Ekram Giri, the spokesperson of Parliament Secretariat. “The Speaker told them that he would take the decision as per the law.”

According to Clause 27 of the Money Laundering Prevention Act, 2008 (amended), Lamichhane’s lawmaker post would have been automatically suspended. The suspension of Lamichhane as lawmaker has also raised questions about his party’s leadership as he is also the leader of the party's parliamentary party.

The law states that if an official or employee of an established organisation or a public servant is in detention, their position will automatically be suspended. However, some legal experts believe that Lamichhane should not have been suspended as ‘public servants’ do not include elected representatives.

Advocate Om Prakash Aryal disagrees.

“The Prevention of Corruption Act defines a public servant as a person holding a public office under the prevailing law, which also includes elected representatives,” Aryal said. “In addition, the Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority Act also addresses this issue apart from Money Laundering Prevention Act, which justifies labelling elected representatives public servants.”

Meanwhile, on Monday, the RSP appointed an acting president for the party’s smooth functioning in the absence of its chair. Based on Article 25 (4) (a) (9) of the party’s statute, Lamichhane on Sunday appointed Dol Prasad (DP) Aryal, the party’s founding vice-president, as the acting president. The decision was taken at a virtual emergency meeting of the party's secretariat on Monday.

“Our party has decided to appoint DP Aryal as the acting president of the party,” reads the press statement issued by the party on Monday. “The party also has decided to support the judicial process in the party president’s case.”

The RSP has two vice presidents: Aryal and Swarnim Wagle.

Section 7 of Article 23 (1) of the RSP statute describes the party vice president’s functions, duties, and powers. According to the statute, in the absence of the party president, the vice president designated by the president or the elder among the two vice presidents will assume the role of the president.

As per their citizenship details, Wagle is a few months older than Aryal. Wagle was born on May 29, 1974, while Aryal, the other party vice president, was born on August 22, 1974.

The police had arrested Lamichhane from the RSP office on October 18 on charges of misappropriating cooperative savings from at least five different places across the country.

Despite the party president being in custody for two months, the RSP had not designated any leader as acting president. However, the party's central committee meeting in November assigned roles related to the RSP’s future strategy to the two vice presidents.

Some RSP leaders say the party leadership and the leadership in Parliament must be divided between two vice presidents. “If one vice-chair takes the party’s leadership, the other vice-chair can be the party leader in Parliament,” said an RSP leader, who is also a secretariat member.

Earlier, after the Supreme Court annulled Lamichhane’s status as a lawmaker in January 2023, citing the invalidity of the citizenship certificate he produced to contest the parliamentary election, he did not give up the position of party chief.

When Aryal was given the role of acting party president, Birajbhakta Shrestha, the deputy leader of the party in Parliament, played the role of party leader until Lamichhane was reelected from the Chitwan-2 by-election.

On November 10, during a demonstration in Pokhara, now acting chair of RSP Aryal had said that Lamichhane would remain the President of the RSP for life.

Referring to the tussle over the acting presidency in the RSP, he had said, “So long as Rabi Lamichhane is alive, he is the president of the RSP.” He also said who became acting president in Lamichhane’s absence was of secondary concern.