Kathmandu : Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli will go for a floor test on Sunday, barely a week after taking the oath of office.
Oli, who was sworn into the top executive position by President Ramchandra Paudel on Monday, decided to go for the test earlier than expected “in order to execute his work plan more confidently,” said Mahesh Bartuala, chief whip of the Oli-led CPN-UML. He has also been assigned to coordinate among the ruling parties on parliamentary matters.
Oli, as the parliamentary party leader of the UML, had appointed Bartuala as chief whip of the ruling party as per the party charter. The prime minister consulted ministers and party leaders before deciding to schedule the floor test.
After taking the vote of confidence, Oli plans to address the nation the same day, highlighting the objectives and priorities of the new government.
On the same day, a hearing on a writ petition challenging his appointment is due at the Supreme Court.
Advocates Deepak Adhikari, Khagendra Prasad Chapagain and Shailendra Kumar Gupta filed the petition on Monday seeking a mandamus order to annul the appointment for being unconstitutional.
The petitioners argue that the President must call for the formation of a new government under Article 76(3) after the one formed under Article 76(2) fails to secure a vote of confidence.
The Office of the President, the federal parliament secretariat, Nepali Congress President Sher Bahadur Deuba and Prime Minister Oli are among the defendants named in the petition.
Govinda Prasad Ghimire, information officer at the Supreme Court, said a preliminary hearing on the petition has been scheduled for July 21.
The prime minister will address the nation and take part in a question-answer session in the House, said Bartuala. In order to expedite his works, the prime minister is gaining the confidence of majority parliamentarians as soon as possible, he added.
Oli was appointed prime minister as per Article 76(2) of the constitution, and the prime minister thus appointed must take the vote of confidence within 30 days. Article 76(2) states that in cases where no party has a clear majority in the House, the President shall appoint as prime minister “a member of the House who can command a majority with the support of two or more parties”. As per Article 76(3), the President appoints the parliamentary party leader of the largest party the prime minister. The leader then has to seek a vote of confidence within 30 days.
Ahead of the vote, Oli, who aims for the support of more than two thirds of House members, is going to meet the leaders of several fringe parties, including Rajendra Lingden of the Rastriya Prajatantra Party, Upendra Yadav of the Janata Samajbadi Party, and CK Raut of the Janamat Party.
Though both Yadav and Raut are positive about extending support to Oli, the RPP is still undecided, said a UML leader. Since the ruling Nepali Congress and UML, the two largest parties in the House of Representatives, have already extended support to the chief minister of Madhesh Province, a Janamat Party member, “we expect the party to vote for Oli on Sunday,” said the UML leader. Yadav’s position has yet to be known.
Oli is certain to secure a majority in favour of his trust motion. On Sunday, he was appointed prime minister on the basis of the signatures collected from 166 lawmakers. The prime minister needs at least 138 votes in the 275-member House to retain his position. Oli, along with 21 Cabinet ministers, took the oath of office on Monday. This is Oli’s fourth stint as the country’s chief executive. First appointed the prime minister in October 2015 (until August 2016), Oli was head of the government from February 2018 to May 2021 and from May 2021 to July 2021.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Oli has started appointing his secretariat members. Rajesh Bajracharya is the chief personal assistant to the prime minister. He has been working closely with Oli for over a decade.
After the vote of confidence, the prime minister is planning to appoint more advisers and members of his private secretariat. These include chief political adviser, foreign relations adviser and press adviser. Bishnu Rimal is said to return as the chief political adviser. Rimal also served Oli in the same capacity earlier.
On Wednesday, on the recommendation of the prime minister, President Paudel appointed senior advocate Ramesh Badal as the new attorney general.
Oli had entrusted Badal to negotiate with Congress leaders before the two parties signed a seven-point deal on July 1. Earlier, Badal served in the Oli government as attorney general from March 19, 2021 to July 13, 2021.
According to the Office of the President, Badal was appointed to the position as per Article 157(2) of the constitution. The attorney general is the government’s chief legal adviser. Dinmani Pokharel, who was appointed attorney general by the Pushpa Kamal Dahal-led government in December 2022, had resigned on Tuesday. His resignation followed the customary tradition of the legal adviser quitting with the change in government. Pokharel had courted controversy for issuing a letter to then deputy prime minister and home minister Rabi Lamichhane, stating that no cases had been filed against him in the cooperatives fraud case.
