Lakshmi Mahato Koiri, MP of CPN-UML elected from Mahottari Constituency No. 1, who is absconding on charges of murder, was suspended from the post of members of the Parliament.
According to Rule 248 (3) of the Rules of the House of Representatives, Speaker Devraj Ghimire suspended Koiri on May 2, 2023.
The Police Headquarters sent a letter to the Parliament Secretariat on April 30, 2023, to assist in the implementation of the Janakpur High Court verdict.
After the police sent the letter, according to the instructions of Speaker Ghimire, the Federal Parliament Secretariat posted a notice of suspension of Koiri.
The Police Head Office had sent a letter to the Parliament Secretariat, on December 22, 2022, stating that the parliamentarian was absconding. The secretariat did not suspend him because the rules of the House of Representatives had not been issued at that time. Koiri was absent from 25 meetings of the House of Representatives.
Lakshmi Mahato Koiri, 58, is also a former village chairperson who won the election as an independent candidate in the then Nigaul village development committee (village) of Mahottari in the local level elections of 2005.
Koiri used to be associated with the then Sadbhavana Party during the Madhesh movement when the Constitution of Nepal 2015 was to be issued by the Constituent Assembly.
During the protest, on September 11, 2015, Assistant Inspector of Armed Police Thaman B.K, who was stationed at Jalsagar Mahottari of the Border Security Office, was seriously injured by the Madhesi Morcha cadres.
The Armed Police Force District Command Post Security Base Mahottari took B.K., who was severely injured, to the Janakpur Zonal Hospital after initial treatment at the District Hospital Jaleshwar. The protestors hijacked his ambulance and killed him in the paddy fields of Mahottari-8 Sanokhad.
Based on the complaint of Shobha Gahatraj, the wife of the deceased Thaman B.K, the police filed a case in the District Court Mahottari against 29 people including Koiri for their involvement in the incident.
After the District Court Mahottari ordered to release of Koiri on a bond of 1 lakh rupees on September 19, 2019. District Public Prosecutor’s Office Mahottari filed an appeal in the Janakpur High Court against the decision of the District Court Mahottari.
The joint bench of the High Court of Janakpur, then Judges Pushparaj Koirala and Prabha Basnet, reversed the order of the District Court on December 4, 2020.
After that order, Koiri who was absconding was elected as a member of the House of Representatives as a candidate from CPN-UML in Mahottari constituency No. 1 in the House of Representatives elections held on November 20, 2022.
In that election, he defeated his closest rival CPN Maoist Center leader Girirajmani Pokharel by a margin of 1,030 votes. Koiri won with 23 thousand 402 votes while Pokharel got 22 thousand 372 votes.
Koiri was recommended as a member of the Parliament’s Industry and Commerce Committee from the meeting of the House of Representatives on April 28, 2023.