The government is pushing ordinances other than one to amend the Land Act, after two Madhesh-based parties refused to support the “controversial” ordinance.

Five of the six ordinances issued by the incumbent government in different periods, when the federal parliament was not in session, will be tabled for a vote on Wednesday in the House of Representatives. The decision was taken following Parliament’s Business Advisory Committee meeting on Tuesday afternoon.

“All the ordinances except one will be put to vote on Wednesday,” said Shyam Ghimire, the Nepali Congress chief whip. “The decision on the land-related ordinance will be taken after further discussions between the parties in the ruling alliance.”

A probable agenda for the lower house meeting shows respective ministers tabling the five ordinances. Likewise, opposition lawmakers have registered proposals to reject them. Their proposals will be tabled for a vote first. Each ordinance will be tabled after the House turns down the proposals to reject it.

As the Congress and the CPN-UML together have 166 lawmakers in the House, which is 60 percent of its total strength—the five ordinances will get be despite the opposition’s reservations. Both the Congress and the UML have issued whips to their lawmakers to be present for the vote.

On February 6, the government had planned to table all the ordinances. However, it refrained after the Janata Samajbadi Party-Nepal (JSP-Nepal) and the Loktantrik Samajbadi Party (LSP) voiced strong opposition to the land-related ordinance. Both the parties have claimed that amendment provisions in the Act only benefit land mafia who want to capture public, barren, and forest land.

Taking a step further, JSP-Nepal chief Upendra Yadav even threatened to pull out of the ruling coalition and take to the streets if the ordinance was pushed through the House. The party had said it would vote against the other five ordinances as well if all six were tabled.

Following strong reservations from the two fringe parties, a meeting of the ruling coalition on Sunday evening had decided to hold off on the controversial ordinance.

“The coalition concluded that further discussions were needed on the ordinance to amend the Land Act following reservations from the JSP-Nepal and the LSP on some of its provisions,” said Bishnu Rimal, chief advisor to the prime minister. “The two parties also complained about not being consulted before the issuance of the ordinances with long-term implications.”

During the meeting, Yadav was reportedly dissatisfied, saying rumours had been spread that his party wanted ministerial berths at the federal level as well as the leadership of the Madhesh government in exchange for supporting the ordinances. But if Rimal’s claims are anything to go by, the party had made no such demand.

Following the government’s decision to put the land ordinance on hold, Yadav’s party on Tuesday decided to continue its support to the KP Sharma Oli government. Several leaders, putting their views in the JSP-Nepal’s three-day central committee meeting, had initially called for withdrawing support.

The JSP-Nepal’s support is essential for the passage of the ordinances in the National Assembly.

The Congress has 16 seats in the 59-strong upper house and the UML has 10. If Anjan Shakya and Bamdev Gautam, both nominated by the government, side with the ruling alliance, it will have 28 seats, still two short of a majority.

Based on their relations with the UML leadership, Shakya is almost certain to support the ordinances while Gautam has said he opposes the land ordinance. In that case, the ruling alliance will have 27 seats. Support of three JSP-Nepal lawmakers will ensure the magic number needed for endorsement.

The ordinances are most likely to be tabled in the upper house on Thursday.

The government is under pressure to endorse the ordinances and replace them with regular bills within this month, as required by law. As the ordinances were introduced in Parliament on January 31, they must be endorsed and replaced with corresponding bills within the next 26 days, or else the ordinances will be void.