Nepal House dissolved, poll in Nov.
Bhandari announces mid-term polls in Nov.
Kathmandu, May 22: Nepal President Bidya Devi Bhandari has dissolved the House of Representatives and announced mid-term polls on November 12 and 19 after she determined that both embattled Prime Minister K.P. Sharma Oli and the Opposition alliance were not in a position to form a government. Bhandari’s announcement came after Prime Minister Oli recommended dissolution of the 275-member House following an emergency midnight Cabinet meeting.
A press statement issued by the Office of President said the Parliament was dissolved and dates of midterm polls were announced in line with Article 76
(7) of the Constitution of Nepal. The council of ministers has recommended conducting the first phase of the poll on November
12 and the second phase on November 19.
The move followed a notice from the Office of the President which said that it could apppoint neither K.P. Sharma Oli, the incumbent prime minister, nor Sher Bahadur Deuba, Nepali Congress president, as claims made by both to form a new government were insufficient.
With four lawmakers in the 275-member House of Representatives dismissed by their party after they chose to be part of another party, a prime ministerial candidate requires support of at least
136 lawmakers in Parliament to form a new government. Interestingly, both Oli and Deuba had claimed the support of some lawmakers, whose names were included in the list of both of them, according to Nepalese media reports. This is the second time President Bhandari has dissolved Parliament on the recommendation of Prime Minister Oli following a political crisis.
Last year on December
20, President Bhandari had dissolved Parliament but later it was reinstated by the Supreme Court in February. Nepal’s political crisis had taken a dramatic turn on Friday as Prime Minister Oli and
the Opposition parties staked separate claims for the formation of a new government by submitting letters of support from lawmakers to the President. Prime Minister Oli had reached the President’s Office Shital Niwas and presented his list, a couple of minutes ahead of the Opposition leaders.
Oli was the first to declare that he had the support of 153 lawmakers of the House of Representatives, citing that he does not have adequate support to go through another floor test.
The letter he submitted had his signature along with the signatures of Janata Samajbadi PartyNepal chair Mahanta Thakur and the party’s parliamentary party leader Rajendra Mahato. Likewise, Nepali Congress President Sher Bahadur Deuba along with other leaders of the Opposition alliance reached Shital Niwas with signatures of 149 lawmakers including 27 lawmakers from the Khanal-Nepal faction of the CPN-UML.