NEW DELHI, July 17
Nepal’s newly appointed Prime Minister K P Sharma Oli will take a vote of confidence in Parliament on July 21, a senior official announced on Wednesday, nearly a week after he was sworn in.
The 72-year-old veteran Communist leader was sworn in on Monday as the Himalayan nation’s prime minister for the fourth time. He was administered the oath of office and secrecy along with 21 other members of the Cabinet.
Prime Minister Oli decided to take a vote of confidence on Sunday, said Dasharath Dhamala, Information Officer at the House of Representatives (HoR).
According to Nepal’s Constitution, Oli needs to secure a vote of confidence from Parliament within 30 days of appointment, which he is likely to secure easily, as the minimum number to form a government in the 275-strong HoR is just 138.
The Chairman of the CPN-UML, Nepal’s largest communist party was appointed as prime minister on Sunday by President Ram Chandra Paudel to lead the coalition government with the Nepali Congress (NC), the largest party in Parliament, apart from other smaller parties.
Nepali Congress and Communist Party of Nepal-Unified Marxist Leninist (CPN-UML) have a combined strength of 167, and two other ruling parties, Janata Samajwadi Party and Lokatantrik Samajwadi Party, have seven and four seats, respectively. With this, the ruling alliance has a strength of 178 in the 275-member HoR.
Apart from the ruling alliance, Oli is also likely to get votes from the Rastriya Prajatantra Party (RPP), Janata Samajwadi Party Nepal (JSP), Nagarik Unmukti Party (NUP) and Janamat Party. The RPP has 14 seats, JSP Nepal has five, NUP has four, and Janamat has six seats.
Therefore, the alliance is likely to secure more than 200 votes in the floor test, according to sources close to CPN-UML.
Oli succeeds Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda,’ who lost the vote of confidence in the HoR last week, leading to the formation of the new government. The CPN-UML Chairman now leads the new coalition government that faces the daunting challenge of providing political stability in the Himalayan nation. Nepal has faced frequent political turmoil as the country has seen 14 governments in the past 16 years after the introduction of the Republican system.
Within hours of Oli’s swearing-in, three advocates — Deepak Adhikari, Khagendra Prasad Chapagain and Shailendra Kumar Gupta – filed a writ petition in the Supreme Court of Nepal challenging his appointment arguing that it was unconstitutional and sought its annulment. The advocates argued that the president should call for forming a new government under Article 76 (3) if a government formed as per Article 76 (2) fails the floor test in the House of Representatives. The apex court has set July 21 as the date for a preliminary hearing in the case — the same day Oli will take the floor test in the Parliament.
