Kathmandu: In the aftermath of one of Nepal’s most turbulent public and political upheavals, a former chief justice, Sushila Karki, now leads the country, not through constitutional protocol but through what many are calling the “will of the streets”.
While her installation as head of a transitional government has ignited a national debate over legality, legitimacy and democracy in Nepal, as it bypassed formal constitutional procedure, Nepal’s former minister of law, justice and parliamentary affairs Govinda Bandi argues that it may have been the only viable path forward.
“This government is not constitutional or legal,” Bandi told ThePrint in an exclusive interview Wednesday, “but it is legitimate”.
Nepal’s constitution, instituted in 2015 after nearly a decade of political deadlock, outlines clear provisions for forming a government. Article 76 of the constitution states that the Prime Minister must be a sitting member of parliament, appointed through majority support from a single party or a coalition of parties.
But in the last few months, parliament in Nepal had ceased to function altogether, Bandi said.
Public trust in the political class collapsed following a cascade of corruption scandals, violent suppression of youth-led protests and the unprecedented decision to shut down major social media platforms.
“There was no hope in parliament. Because two major forces (political parties) joined the government in order to, you know, cover all the wrongdoings, all the corruption. If there was a strong opposition, people might have gone to the opposition party and asked them to raise this agenda in parliament. (But) there was no space in parliament,” Bandi said.
Article 61 of Nepal’s constitution charges the President with two duties: to protect the Constitution and to comply with it. At this moment, Bandi added, those two responsibilities clashed.
“The President had to choose between preserving the constitution or parliament. He chose the constitution, dissolved parliament and appointed Karki to lead a transitional government,” he explained.
The appointment, Bandi insisted, was not unilateral. Rather, it was shaped by the momentum of the street, where there was a decentralised, youth-led movement that used platforms like Discord to crowdsource a leader.
“When you’re operating outside the framework, there is no set procedure,” Bandi explained. “What guides you in such a moment is wisdom, and necessity.”
According to Bandi, a public vote organised by the GenZ protesters’ coordination committee selected Karki from a pool of figures, including former MPs, civil society leaders, and legal scholars. “This was not constitutionally defined,” Bandi said. “But it was a popular mandate.”
The GenZ group, he added, became an informal but widely acknowledged representative body emerging from the protests, and delivered its recommendation to the President bypassing the fractured political parties.
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Demands long unmet
Nepal has long struggled to implement the key agendas of education, health, social security, justice and removal of poverty and discrimination. Every major political movement in the nation—from the 1950s and 1990s’ Jana Andolan to the 1996 Maoist insurgency—was driven by these same demands.
After the 1990 people’s movement brought an end to absolute monarchy in Nepal, democracy returned and political parties joined mainstream politics. But, according to Bandi, “the agenda they were raising was left unfinished”. Corruption became institutionalised, and in response, the Maoists launched a decade-long insurgency, again based on the same unmet demands.
In 2006, a peace agreement brought the Maoists into mainstream politics but “they left the agenda” again. Then, while the 2015 constitution promised rights and justice, “the delivery system totally failed”. Corruption deepened, and leaders ignored constitutional provisions, Bandi said.
This created a wide gap between the elites and ordinary citizens. It led to the “Nepo baby” movement, a reference to the children of political elites enjoying privileges, while most youth lacked basic education and healthcare.
Social media became a space for GenZ to voice their anger, until the government banned it. With no parliamentary opposition and no space to speak, “all the students in their school dress and the GenZ group… came to the street and raised their voices”, Bandi told ThePrint.
Protests broke out in Kathmandu first on 8 September, then spread across the country.
The state responded with lethal force—”about 50 people died the same day in police firing”, he said. The next day, mass protests escalated. Government offices, vehicles, and records were burned. “There was no space for ministers or civil servants to sit and work,” he added.
“Now, we are at the crossroads. A new government has been formed but is ‘outside the scope of the present constitution’, raising deeper concerns about legitimacy and accountability,” Bandi said.
Anatomy of unrest & repression
The days leading to the transition in Nepal were marked by state violence and mass protests. A social media blackout, widely viewed as a tactic to stifle dissent, acted as a flashpoint for larger frustrations, decades of systemic corruption, failed governance and growing economic disparity.
“The ban on social media wasn’t the core issue,” Bandi said. “The real causes lay much deeper, rooted in historical injustice, institutionalised corruption and broken promises.”
When students took to the streets, many in school uniform, the state responded with live ammunition. Bandi described the moment as a turning point.
“The government opened fire on peaceful protesters. At least 50 people were killed in a single day. The next day, government buildings were torched. Ministers and civil servants had nowhere left to work.”
Amid the chaos, the President’s move to install a caretaker administration, although an extra-constitutional one, was, to many, a necessary intervention to prevent military escalation.
“We’ve seen this regionally,” Bandi noted. “In Bangladesh, Pakistan, even Sri Lanka—when political systems collapse, military rule is often the next step. That risk was real.”
However, despite the upheaval, Bandi rejects calls to ban political parties, even as many of their leaders face widespread public outrage and, in some cases, criminal investigations.
“Yes, people are angry. Some leaders were attacked, homes were looted, cash was pulled out in sacks. But banning political parties would be authoritarian. What we need is accountability, not revenge,” he told ThePrint.
Bandi was particularly scathing in his critique of Nepal’s entrenched political leadership. “Leaders like K.P. Oli, Sher Bahadur Deuba and Prachanda still control everything. And the younger generation within their parties? They’re afraid to challenge them. It’s political slavery,” he asserted.
‘India will be key’
The new transitional government has pledged to hold elections, but Bandi is sceptical of the proposed six-month timeline.
“This is a completely new government with no experience. Some are lawyers, others civil servants, but few have ever run a country. Six months is overly ambitious,” he said.
He also questioned interim PM Karki’s decision to exclude political party members from her cabinet, even those with clean records. “That was a mistake. Democracy cannot function without political parties. You need their organisational muscle, their experience, even if it’s imperfect,” he argued.
Adding to the challenges are logistical and financial hurdles. “Kathmandu is ash and blood right now,” Bandi said grimly. “Even during normal times, we struggled to pay salaries. Now we need to fund a national election. It’s not realistic without international support.”
India, he said, will be key. “Our relationship with India is cultural and enduring. Their support will be crucial, not just financially, but to ensure stability.”
‘Let the people decide’
Looking beyond elections, Bandi advocates for something more foundational: a national referendum on three unresolved issues—monarchy vs republic, federalism vs unitary governance, and secularism vs a Hindu state.
“These were decided through elite consensus, not public mandate,” he said. “Let the people decide. It would resolve these debates once and for all.”
He proposes that the referendum take place under a unity government, post-election, with all factions, from monarchists to federal sceptics, at the table. While figures like Kathmandu mayor Balendra Shah are rumoured to be forming new political parties, Bandi warned against expecting too much from new actors alone.
“Nepal is not just Kathmandu,” he said. “Yes, new parties may win in cities. But in the hills, in rural districts where there are no roads, old parties still hold sway.”
More importantly, Bandi argued, it’s not about parties at all. It’s about culture. “Our parties behave like private companies. One person makes all the decisions. That’s not democratic. It’s feudal.”
Until that culture changes both within parties and within society, Nepal will remain trapped in a cycle of hope and disillusionment, he told ThePrint.
Despite the uncertainty, however, Bandi does not believe Nepal is heading for a collapse. “Our judiciary has stepped in before. If elections don’t happen, the Supreme Court will act. That’s our safety net.”
The military, too, has remained largely restrained, though its brief emergence during the peak of the protests raised eyebrows. The army had deployed patrols on the streets of Kathmandu in the wake of the protests.
“It wasn’t a coup,” Bandi insisted. “It was a stabilising gesture. The police fired the bullets. The army stayed back. That might have prevented a massacre.”
As the transitional government begins its work, Nepal faces not just a political transition but a test of its democracy. “The people want democracy,” Bandi said. “But a democracy that works.”
If Nepal is to avoid another cycle of upheaval, Bandi added, the real reckoning must be deeper than elections, referendums or constitutional clauses. He said it must be cultural, institutional and above all, honest.
“Let the people decide,” Bandi said, echoing a sentiment heard increasingly in Kathmandu’s streets. “If not, we will keep running in circles: new faces, same failures.”
(Edited by Nida Fatima Siddiqui)
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