Oppn in Nepal wants Deuba to be made PM

KATHMANDU: Nepal’s opposition alliance on Monday filed a writ petition in the country’s supreme court demanding restoration of the House of Representatives and appointment of veteran Nepali Congress leader Sher Bahadur Deuba as the prime minister.

Leaders of the alliance moved the apex court two days after President Bidya Devi Bhandari dissolved the 275-member House on the recommendations of Prime Minister K P Sharma Oli, who headed a minority government after losing a trust vote in the House on May 10.

In the writ, the petitioners have demanded that Nepali Congress president Deuba should be appointed prime minister in accordance with Article 76 (5) of the constitution.

Their other demands include the scrapping of the announcement of elections in November, stopping election-related programmes amid the pandemic, and issuing an order to summon a House meeting to facilitate presentation of the budget within the time provisioned by the constitution.

A court official confirmed that as many as 146 lawmakers have filed the petition.

PM Oli-led CPN-UML expels 11 lawmakers

Nepal’s ruling Communist Party of Nepal-Unified Marxist Leninist (CPN-UML) on Monday expelled 11 of its lawmakers for going against the party and supporting the opposition alliance in its bid to topple the government led by Oli.

The CPN-UML standing committee decided to take action against the lawmakers, including former prime ministers Madhav Kumar Nepal and Jhalanath Khanal, during a meeting held on Monday.