Can he stop the passage of a Bill in Parliament?
If a normal Bill is passed in the two houses of the Parliament, despite His Majesty’s reservation, that Bill is automatically passed. But if, particularly in the case of a Constitutional Bill, His Majesty considers it to be of national interest and of paramount importance, he cannot stop it; but he has the power to refer that to a referendum. In short, our Constitution has two principles of democracy – the indirect democracy, that is through a representative government, in which any act which is not of great importance, even if his Majesty does not give his assent, will be passed like it had recently happened in India; but if it is of national importance, His Majesty can refer it to a referendum. If a government has an overriding majority in a Parliament, like there is in Bhutan now, we may need another safeguard. How do the people of Bhutan view the King’s divestment of power? The Kings of Bhutan were always proactive. His Majesty, the fourth King in particular felt that democracy was
