The government is set to present five ordinances at the House of Representatives scheduled for 1 pm Wednesday. The ruling coalition has already issued a whip to its MPs, instructing them to attend the session and remain until the ordinances are voted on.

The whip was sent out by the chief whip of the Nepali Congress, Shyam Ghimire, via SMS, urging all party MPs to attend the session without fail. The message, seen by the Post, explicitly stated that their presence is compulsory for the approval of the ordinances to be presented in the session.

The CPN-UML has also issued a similar directive to its lawmakers. With 88 MPs from Congress and 78 from UML in the House of Representatives, the government holds a majority, and the ordinances are expected to pass.

However, the government has faced challenges with the passage of ordinances in the upper house, the National Assembly, where the ruling coalition does not hold a majority. The Janata Samajbadi Party (JSP) has emerged as a key player, holding decisive sway in the assembly.

The JSP has said the land-related ordinance, a sixth ordinance, must be withdrawn before it agrees to support the other five ordinances.

Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli and his coalition partners have made it clear that these ordinances are urgent and necessary, but the opposition has raised concerns over bypassing the regular legislative process. The ordinances must be approved by both houses of Parliament within 60 days of their issuance, but their fate in the National Assembly remains uncertain.

Despite some opposition, including from the JSP and the Loktantrik Samajbadi Party (LSP), the government is pushing ahead with the five ordinances, excluding the controversial land ordinance which has caused considerable debate within the ruling coalition itself. This decision follows a meeting on February 15, where leaders of the ruling parties resolved to press ahead with the five ordinances that have seen minimal opposition within the House of Representatives.

The land ordinance, which was initially proposed alongside other legislative measures, has now become a point of contention, with both the JSP and LSP calling for its retraction. However, the ruling coalition is expected to focus on the remaining five ordinances, which deal with a range of issues related to governance and development.