NEPAL PM DEUBA SEEKS VOTE OF CONFIDENCE IN REINSTATED LOWER HOUSE

KATHMANDU: Nepal’s new Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba was set to face a vote of confidence in the reinstated lower House of parliament on Sunday, according to media reports.

Deuba, 75, the president of Nepali Congress, took the oath of office and secrecy on July 13, a day after a five-member constitutional bench of the Supreme Court led by chief justice Cholendra Shumsher Rana reinstated the dissolved House of Representatives for the second time in five months.

The first meeting of the restored House was to be held at 4pm (local time) at the federal parliament building, New Baneshwar.

The lower house was unconstitutionally dissolved by President Bidya Devi Bhandari for the second time in five months on May 22 at the recommendation of then Prime Minister K P Sharma Oli.

Government spokesperson and minister for law, justice and parliamentary affairs, Gyanendra Karki registered the trust motion at the federal parliament secretariat, myrepublica.com reported.

“A proposal for the vote of trust has already been registered in the parliament secretariat,” said Shreedhar Neupane, a press advisor of speaker Agni Sapkota, told The Kathmandu Post. “The PM will go for a floor test in the second meeting of the House of Representatives today (Sunday),” he said.

In the 275-member House, where 271 votes will be counted, Deuba must garner at least 136 to win parliament’s confidence. A failure to win the vote of confidence will lead to the dissolution of the House, and elections will be held within six months.