Nepal President summons Parliament session on May 10

Kathmandu, May 2 (PTI) Nepal’s President Bidya Devi Bhandari has summoned a session of the House of Representatives on May 10, her office said on Sunday.

President Bhandari has summoned the Parliament session as per the recommendation of Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli to call the meeting to obtain the vote of confidence from the Parliament, according to a notice issued by the President’s Office.

As per the notice, the 275-member lower house will begin at 1 pm on the slated date.

As four members are currently under suspension, Prime Minister Oli requires at least 136 votes to win the confidence motion.

Nepal's political atmosphere has yet again returned to its imminent unstable form as the political future of the nation hangs in the balance with looming uncertainty of the ruling government maintaining power.

Prime Minister Oli's decision to seek a confidence vote comes at a time when Nepal is grappling with the effects of the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Nepal on Sunday reported a record 7,137 new cases of COVID-19, the highest daily surge in the country. The total tally has crossed 329,000-mark. The death toll now stands at 3,325.

Nepal plunged into a political crisis on December 20 after President Bhandari dissolved the House and announced fresh elections on April 30 and May 10 at the recommendation of Prime Minister Oli, amidst a tussle for power within the ruling Nepal Communist Party (NCP).

Oli's move to dissolve the House sparked protests from a large section of the NCP led by his rival Pushpa Kamal Dahal 'Prachanda', also a co-chair of the ruling party.   In February, the apex court reinstated the dissolved House of Representatives, in a setback to embattled Prime Minister Oli who was preparing for snap polls.

A five-member Constitutional bench led by Chief Justice Cholendra Shumsher JBR annulled the government's decision to dissolve the lower house of Parliament and ordered the government to summon the House session within the next 13 days.

Oli repeatedly defended his move to dissolve the House of Representatives, saying some leaders of his party were attempting to form a "parallel government".

As many as 13 writ petitions, including the one by the ruling Nepal Communist Party's Chief Whip Dev Prasad Gurung, were filed at the apex court seeking the restoration of the lower house of Parliament. PTI SBP AMS ZH AMS AMS