Nepal Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli loses vote of confidence in House of Representatives

In a fresh set back, Nepal Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli on May 10 lost the vote of confidence in the House of Representatives. According to PTI, during a special session convened on the directives of President Bidya Devi Bhandari, 93 lawmakers voted in favour of the motion while 124 were against the same, and 15 were neutral, thereby leading to PM Oli's loss. Oli required at least 136 votes in the 275-member House of Representatives to win the confidence motion, however, he lost the trust vote, which a setback to the embattled premier seeking to tighten his grip on power after the CPN (Maoist Centre) led by Pushpakamal Dahal “Prachanda” withdrew support to his government.

Now, given the failure of KP Oli to win the vote of confidence, there is no possibility to form a government as per Article 76 (1) of the Constitution as no party in the assembly has a single-party majority. According to Article 76 (2), opposition parties have to gain a majority collectively to form an alternative government. Failing on that, the president can appoint a leader from the largest party as the prime minister according to Article 76 (3).

It is worth mentioning that Nepal plunged into a political crisis on December 20 last year after President Bhandari dissolved the House and announced fresh elections on April 30 and May 10 at the recommendation of Prime Minister Oli, amidst a tussle for power within the ruling Nepal Communist Party (NCP).

Nepal lawmakers test COVID positive 

Meanwhile, ahead of Nepal’s vote of confidence, as many as 26 members of Parliament had tested positive for COVID-19. The Parliament Secretariat's spokesperson Rojnath Pandey spoke to news agency ANI and stated that 'over 200 honourable Members of Parliament underwent a test for COVID-19, out of which 18 tested positive. Eight MPs, who had undergone tests on their own, were also added to the list that took the total number of infected members in Lower House to 26.

IMAGE: PTI