Nepal’s new Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba surprised by seeking a trust vote in the restored lower House of Representatives on Sunday and won it comfortably, deferring a general election in the Himalayan nation amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
Deuba, the 75-year-old president of the Nepali Congress, who was appointed as the prime minister on July 12 in accordance with Article 76(5) of the Constitution after the intervention of the Supreme Court, secured 165 votes in the 275-member House on Sunday. .
Deuba needed a total of 136 votes to win the confidence of parliament. He was to seek a vote of confidence within a month of being appointed prime minister. However, in a surprise move, he sought a trust vote on the first day of the restored House.
Deuba’s failure to secure a vote of confidence in the house led to the dissolution of the house and the postponement of elections within six months in Nepal, which is facing an unprecedented health crisis due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Nepalese media reported that Sunday’s result of the trust vote paved the way for Prime Minister Deuba to remain in office for the next year and a half, until new parliamentary elections are held.
249 MPs participated in the voting process and 83 of them voted against Deuba while one MLA remained neutral.
“I hereby declare that the motion of confidence motion moved by Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba has been supported by a majority of votes,” declared Speaker of the House Agni Sapkota.
The motion of confidence vote was recorded in the Parliament Secretariat on Sunday, the first day of the session of the restored Lower House.
Prior to this, Deuba has served as Prime Minister on four occasions; First from 1995 to 1997, then from 2001 to 2002, then from 2004 to 2005 and from 2017 to 2018.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi immediately congratulated Deuba on his success.
Modi tweeted, “Congratulations to Prime Minister @DeubaSherbdr and best wishes for a successful tenure. I look forward to working with you to further enhance our unique partnership across all sectors, and deepen our people-to-people ties. I strengthen.”
Congratulations Prime Minister @DeubaSherbdr And best wishes for a successful tenure. I look forward to working with you to further enhance our unique partnership across all sectors and strengthen our deep people-to-people ties.
— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) July 18, 2021
Deuba took the oath of office and secrecy for a record fifth time on July 13, a day after a five-member Constitutional Bench of the Supreme Court led by Chief Justice Cholendra Shamsher Rana restored the dissolved House of Representatives for the second time in five months. .
Read | Sher Bahadur Deuba became the PM of Nepal for the 5th time
President Vidya Devi Bhandari on May 22 dissolved the Lower House for the second time in five months on the recommendation of Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli and announced mid-term elections on November 12 and 19.
Deuba had staked claim to form the government in accordance with Article 76(5) with the support of 149 MPs, but President Bhandari along with the claim made by Oli were insufficient.
After the intervention of the top court, President Bhandari had called a meeting of both the houses of Parliament on Sunday.
The ruling Nepali Congress (NC) has 61 members in the lower house of parliament, while its coalition partner CPN (Maoist Centre) has 48, excluding Speaker Sapkota.
The main opposition CPN-UML, which is Oli’s party, has 121 members in the lower house, the JSP has 32 members and the other three fringe parties have one member each. There is also an independent legislator.
MPs from Nepali Congress, CPN Maoist Center and Janata Samajwadi Party-Nepal voted in favor of Deuba. The Thakur-Mahto faction of JSP-N also decided to support Deuba at the last minute.
After Deuba’s victory was certain, about a dozen UML MPs left the House. However, the remaining 22 MPs, including Madhav Kumar Nepal, voted for Deuba.
Interestingly, 8 MPs from the Oli faction voted in favor of Deuba. In all, around 30 MPs from the opposition party defied the party whip to vote against Deuba.
Former prime minister and senior leader of the Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist Leninist) Jhalanath Khanal, who is undergoing treatment at a hospital in New Delhi, issued a statement asking his party MPs to vote for Deuba.
With his victory, Deuba would remain prime minister for a year and a half, until elections were held.
Nepal faced a political crisis on 20 December last year after President Bhandari dissolved the House and announced fresh elections on 30 April and 10 May on the recommendation of Prime Minister Oli, amid a struggle for power within the ruling Communist Party of Nepal (NCP). came in.
On 23 February, the apex court restored the dissolved House of Representatives, in a jolt to Prime Minister Oli, who was preparing for mid-term elections.
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