Sher Bahadur Deuba sworn in as Nepal’s new PM

KATHMANDU: Nepali Congress President Sher Bahadur Deuba on Tuesday sworn in as Prime Minister of Nepal at President’s office, Shital Niwas.

President Bidya Devi Bhandari administered the oath to Deuba, who is also president of the Nepali Congress (NC) and leader of the NC parliamentary party, reported Khabarhub.

Earlier, the apex court in its verdict ordered Bhandari to appoint Deuba as the successor of now caretaker Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli. Dissatisfied with the judgement of the top court, supporters of Oli staged a protest against the order to reinstate the dissolved House of Representatives (HoR). A large number of Oli supporters gathered and shouted slogans against the apex court’s verdict.

A total of 146 members of the House of Representatives (HoR) had reached out to Supreme Court with a writ petition to demand the restoration of the house and appoint Sher Bahadur Deuba, as the next prime minister on May 24. This was after Nepal President had refused to allow Deuba to form a new government as per Article 76 (5) and dissolution of the House.

With Oli failing to secure the vote of confidence on May 10, Bhandari on May 13 had appointed Oli as prime minister under Article 76 (3) of the constitution as the leader of the party with the highest number of members in the House.

A week after his appointment, Oli on May 20 in a sudden move recommended that the President invoked Article 76 (5) to choose a new prime minister. It is the President who initiates Article 76 (5) when a prime minister appointed under Article 76 (3) fails the trust vote. Oli, however, neither sought the trust vote nor resigned, thereby creating a situation in which a prime minister was asking the President to appoint a prime minister.