Nepal Supreme Court reinstates Lower House; orders Sher Bahadur Deuba's appointment as PM

In a major blow to caretaker PM KP Sharma Oli, the Nepal Supreme Court reinstated the House of Representatives for the second time in nearly 5 months. The Constitution bench comprising Chief Justice Cholendra Shumsher JBR that includes Justices Deepak Kumar Karki, Mira Khadka, Ishwor Prasad Khatiwada, and Ananda Mohan Bhattarai were hearing a slew of pleas challenging Nepal President Bidya Devi Bhandari's move to dissolve Parliament and declare mid-term polls. Most importantly, it directed that Nepali Congress chief Sher Bahadur Deuba must be appointed as the PM within two days

The opposition alliance had filed a plea in this regard comprising the signature of 146 parliamentarians. Notably, Bhandari had dissolved the House after finding the claims of both Oli and Deuba unsatisfactory based on the signatures submitted. Earlier, the Nepal SC quashed the recent appointment of 20 Ministers amid concerns whether a caretaker PM can make such sweeping changes in the Cabinet. 

Political instability 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 rolling 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 May 20 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 gave another opportunity to political parties to bid for the Prime Minister's post by 5 pm on May 21. A day later, she 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.