Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli had sought a vote of confidence in his favor in Parliament. But he has had to wash his hands of the PM’s job because of a lack of confidence in him. Oli received 93 votes in his favor and 124 against him in the no-confidence vote.
The proposal was rejected because other parties did not support the ruling CPN-UML in favor of the vote of confidence. Disregarding the directives of the UML parliamentary party, senior UML leaders Jhala Nath Khanal and Madhav Kumar Nepal were absent from the polls due to low turnout.
Rastriya Prajatantra Party’s Rajendra Prasad Lingden was also absent due to covid infection. The main opposition Nepali Congress and the opposition CPN-Maoist Center voted against the proposal. Some MPs from the Janata Samajwadi Party of Nepal remained neutral while others voted in opposition. There were three ways to divide the vote: yes, no and no.
Chairman of the CPN-Maoist Center Pushpa Kamal Dahal Prachanda has said that Oli will automatically step down as the Prime Minister as he did not get a vote of confidence. According to Prachanda, the members of the House of Representatives who can bring a majority of confidence have said that the President should call for the demand of the Prime Minister and they are ready to form a majority government accordingly. He also said that an alternative government would be formed with the efforts of the three parties.
Prime Minister Oli had called a meeting to seek a vote of confidence. The Prime Minister could not take a vote of confidence in the meeting. After the meeting, Subash Nemwang and Chief Whip Vishal Bhattarai spoke to the Prime Minister. According to Chief Whip Bhattarai, a whip was issued to 121 party members to participate in the mandatory meeting. He said that the vote could not be cast as 28 of them were absent. According to him, this is the first case in the world where the whip has been violated by disobeying the directives issued by the parliament. This is the first incident in Nepal where the chairman of his own party disobeys and does not attend. According to Bhattarai, voting for the opposition despite being present is also a violation of the rules.
According to former speaker Subash Nemwang, the prime minister has resigned automatically as per the constitution. However, he acknowledged that their numbers were not enough to defeat President Conte’s government.
According to Dr Chandrakant Gyawali, senior advocate of the constitution, this government has turned into a caretaker government as the prime minister has lost faith.
The alternative now is to form in accordance with Article 76 (2) of the Constitution. According to this article, an alternative government has to be formed. Accordingly, an alternative government has to be formed with the joint participation of two or more parties. If the government cannot be formed as per Article 76 (2), then it is necessary to proceed in accordance with Article 76 (3).
