Nepal President dissolves Lower House & declares fresh polls; rival claims rejected

In a big development on Saturday morning, Nepal President Bidya Devi Bhandari dissolved the House of Representatives and announced that mid-term polls will be held on November 12 and 19. This comes after Bhandari rejected the claims of both Nepal PM KP Sharma Oli and opposition leader Sher Bahadur Deuba for government formation. While Oli claimed that he had the support of 153 lawmakers including members of the Janata Samajbadi Party, Nepali Congress president Deuba submitted signatures of 149 parliamentarians comprising 27 members of the CPN-UML rival faction led by Madhav Kumar Nepal. 

This obviously did not add up as there are only 275 members in Nepal's House of Representatives. Based on the signatures and claims, the Nepal President affirmed that she is not going to appoint a PM as there is no concrete basis for both claimants to get a vote of confidence. After the decision was conveyed to Oli on Friday night, the latter conveyed a Cabinet meeting and recommended the dissolution of the Lower House. Bhandari took recourse to Article 76(5) which paves way for the dissolution of the Parliament and fresh polls if no one is able to garner the support of a majority of the lawmakers. 

Here is the statement issued by the Nepal President: 
 

Political turmoil in Nepal

With 121 seats, the Communist Party of Nepal-Unified Marxist Leninist (CPN-UML) is the largest party in the 275-member House of Representatives. On the other hand, the Nepali Congress, the CPN-Maoist Center of ex-PM Pushpa Kamal Dahal also known as 'Prachanda'and the Janata Samajbadi Party have 63, 49 and 34 seats respectively. The rivalry between the Oli and Madhav Kumar Nepal camps in the CPN-UML camps escalated to the extent that the Nepal President dissolved the Parliament on December 10, 2020, and set the ball for fresh elections. While the country's Supreme Court reinstated the Parliament in February, the Nepal PM escalated the feud by suspending Nepal and other senior leaders close to him for 6 months.

Amidst the turmoil within the ruling party, Oli finally decided to seek a vote of confidence on May 10. However, he was dealt another blow as the CPN-Maoist Center withdrew its support, reducing the government to a minority. Thereafter, he lost the confidence motion after securing just 93 votes in the session attended by 232 lawmakers. Whereas 124 members voted against the motion, 15 others stayed neutral. Though the CPN-Maoist Center decided to back the Nepali Congress, the CPN-UML rival faction and Janata Samajbadi Party showed hesitancy in the formation of an alternative government.

Although Oli was back at the helm of affairs, he received a setback on Thursday as his candidate for a seat in Nepal's Upper House- Home Minister Ram Bahadur Thapa lost to a candidate fielded by the CPN-UML rival faction. Moreover, the nation's SC issued an interim order restraining 7 members of the Cabinet from discharging their ministerial responsibilities. Defecting to the PM's party from the CPN-Maoist Center, they had been disqualified from Parliament. This compelled him to not seek a vote of confidence in the House of Representatives. Following this, Nepal President Bidya Devi Bhandari took recourse to Article 76(5) giving another opportunity to political parties to bid for the Prime Minister's post by 5 pm on Friday.