PM seeking vote of confidence today

By A Staff Reporter,Kathmandu, May 20: Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’ is going to seek the vote of confidence in the House of Representatives on Monday.

The meeting of the House of Representatives is scheduled for 11 a.m. for Monday for the purpose.

The Prime Minister is seeking the fourth vote of confidence in 17 months after his appointment as the Prime Minister on December 25, 2022, after Upendra Yadav-led Janata Samajwadi Party-Nepal recently quit the government following a split in the party. 

However, two developments of Sunday have made it uncertain whether the Prime Minister’s proposal seeking the vote of confidence could be tabled in the House.

The Nepali Congress that allowed Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister Rabi Lamichhane to address the parliament on Sunday warned of obstructing House meeting and preventing the Prime Minister from seeking the vote of confidence unless the parliamentary committee is formed to investigate the alleged involvement of DPM and Home Minister Lamichhane in cooperative frauds.

Although the ruling and opposition parties on Saturday agreed to form a four-member parliament committee coordinated by Law, Justice Parliament Affairs Minister Padam Giri with Jivan Pariyar from the Nepali Congress, Mahesh Kumar Bartaula from the CPN-UML and Shishir Khanal from the Rastriya Swatantra Party as its members, the committee failed to agree to prepare all-accepted Terms of References (ToR) of the committee even after holding several rounds of the meeting on Sundas. It is said that while NC wanted to include the name of the DPM and Home Minister in the ToR which the ruling parties rejected. The row culminated in the postponement of the House of Representatives meeting twice on Sunday while the meeting of the Upper House was postponed for Monday. 

After the failure of the committee to forge consensus on its ToR and DPM Lamichhane’s address to the House, NC general secretary Gagan Kumar Thapa in a press conference organised on Sunday evening warned of disrupting the House and preventing the Prime Minister from seeking the vote of confidence unless the parliament committee is formed. 

Earlier, Upendra Yadav of the JSP-N also filed a writ in the Supreme Court seeking an order that the PM could not take vote of confidence unless the SC finalises the fate of the seven lawmakers of his party who formed another party by splitting the JSP-N.