Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli has been automatically relieved of his post after a no-confidence
motion was reached on April 10. As soon as Prime Minister Oli stepped down, the three main
opposition parties issued a joint letter to form a government with a majority.
Despite the announcement to form a majority government from the House of Representatives,
there is confusion over who will be the prime minister and how. As soon as the Prime Minister
resigned, President Vidyadevi Bhandari issued a directive to any representative member who
could bring a majority to claim the post of Prime Minister. The directive issued by the President
had a time limit of three days. The opposition has to form a new government as per Article 762
of the constitution.
Nepali Congress President Sher Bahadur Deuba, UCPN (Maoist) Central Committee Chairman
Pushpa Kamal Dahal and JSP Chairman Upendra Yadav, who were in favor of Prime Minister
Oli, had demanded the formation of a new government. After 38 months in parliament, Oli
received 93 votes, or 35 percent of the total. When he was sworn in as prime minister 38 months
ago, he received 64 percent of the vote. Although Prime Minister Oli has not been able to get a
majority, he is not in a position to get a majority in other parties. Despite a three-day deadline to
form a new government, the parties are struggling to get 136 votes for a majority. Therefore, the
opposition parties are afraid that Prime Minister Oli may come in accordance with Article 76 (3)
of the Constitution.
To form a government with a majority, the Congress needs 61 votes, the Maoist Center 49 and
the JSP 26 out of 32 votes. However, Mahanta Thakur’s party, which has 15 MPs, has made it
clear that it will not join the new government. In such a situation, the UML’s Madhav Nepal
faction, which did not give a vote of confidence to Prime Minister Oli, resigned and a
government is formed. Now the parties are forced to resign to form a government.
