Right Honourable President Mrs. Bidya Devi Bhandari has taken following decisions on the applications submitted by Honorable members of the House of the Representatives Mr. K.P. Sharma Oli and Mr. Sher Bahadur Deuba staking claims for the appointment as the Prime Minister as per the Article 76(5) of the Constitution of Nepal. Earlier Right Honourable President has called for the members of the House of the Representatives as per the Article 76(2) of the Constitution to stake claims to be appointed as the Prime Minister by 5 pm on May 21, 2021.
- Honourable member of the House of the Representatives Mr. K.P. Sharma Oli has claimed that he has adequate evidence to obtain vote of confidence for the post of Prime Minister as per the Article 76 (5) and (6) as he has the support of 121 members of the CPN (UML) and 32 members of the Janata Samajwadi Party, Nepal (JSP Nepal). A letter signed by Mr. Mahantha Thakur, President of JSP Nepal and Mr. Rajendra Mahato , Parliamentary Party leader of JSP Nepal, corroborating the support of the 32 members was also attached with the application. However, it was found that out of 153, 26 members of the CPN (UML) and 12 members of the JSP Nepal have supported another applicant Honorable Mr. Sher Bahadur Deuba by signing his application.
- The application of Honorable Mr. Sher Bahadur Deuba contains the signatures of 149 members of the House of the Representatives comprising 61 from Nepali Congress, 49 from CPN (Maoist Centre) and a letter from the party, 12 from JSP Nepal, 26 from CPN (UML) and Honorable member Ms. Durga Paudel. Party President and the leader of the Parliamentary Party of the CPN (UML), in a written letter, has requested to disregard the signatures of the elected party members as it would be against the party discipline to sign in favour of the member of the other party and their membership of the House of the Representatives will remain void if found that they have done so. Similarly, a signed letter has been received from the Party President of JSP Nepal, Mr. Mahantha Thakur and the leader of the Parliamentary Party Mr. Rajendra Mahato, requesting to reject the signatures of their party members as it has been learnt that some of them have signed against the norms and code of conduct of the party.
While considering the fact that same members have been counted on both sides, members have supported one another against the party decision and request from the concerned party to disregard their support, the possibility of attracting Article 89(e) of the Constitution and Section 6 of act relating to Political Party 2016, it has been decided that both the claims to obtain vote of confidence of the House of Representatives as per the Article 76(5) of the Constitution to be appointed as the Prime Minister do not stand valid.
Keshav Prasad Ghimire
Deputy Spokesperson
21 May 2021