The decision of King Gyanendra on the night of October 4 to dismiss the Nepali Congress (Democratic) Government led by Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba and his calling for "non-political persons" to  head an interim government for conducting the general elections for the Pratinidhi Sabha (lower House of the bicameral Parliament) appears to have come both as a surprise and shock to many.

However, Nepal watchers had seen it coming for the last several months as it became more and more evident that it would be next to impossible to hold the scheduled elections from November 13 onwards as mandated by the constitutional obligation (Article 53.4). The Maoist rebels’ activities since the last six months have made it clear that they would not allow elections to be held, terror being the weapon in their arsenal against the parliamentary democratic system.

Prime Minister Deuba, hard pressed by the rebels as well as his party leader, Girija Prasad Koirala, to lift the emergency declared in the Kingdom to meet the difficult situation created by Maoist violence, had recommended to the King that the Pratindhi Sabha be dissolved and fresh elections be held six months later. The constitutional article mentioned earlier provided for this recommendation by the Prime Minister which the King is bound to accept. The monarch, however, has to ("shall") ensure holding of elections within six months of the date of the dissolution of the House. The King did abide by the provisions of the Constitution but the Government has so far failed to take any tangible step for ensuring elections.

In the meantime, the president of the Nepali Congress, Girija Prasad Koirala, fully disapproving of the action of Deuba , asked him to retrace the step and resign from the Prime Ministership. He refused, and was promptly expelled by the parent party, upon which he floated his own party, the Nepali Congress (Democratic) Party. Then began the battle for the election symbol between the two parties and the Election Commission, to the mortification of Deuba, recognised the Koirala-led faction as the "real" Nepali Congress. The Supreme Court, which was approached by the Koirala group, rejected the petition calling for the restoration of the Pratinidhi Sabha, citing an earlier instance of 1995. The 1995 verdict had come for reviving the Pratinidhi Sabha because it was unjustly dissolved at the recommendation of the Marxist Prime Minister, Manmohan Adhikari, when he had already lost his majority in the House and a no confidence motion was pending against his ministry.

This time, Deuba had majority support in the Pratinidhi Sabha behind him, and hence the Supreme Court did not pronounce a favourable verdict for Koirala. The latest provocation for the King came when Deuba, on behalf of his and other parties (eight in all), petitioned the King a few days ago that it was not possible to hold the stipulated elections and asked his consent for postponing them for full one year.