Jubilee Post News & Views
Jubilee News Desk
Sher Bahadur Deuba, 75, became Nepal’s Prime Minister for the 5th time. Now if Deuba wins the vote of confidence he can remain PM for about a year and a half.
Deuba previously served four terms as the Prime Minister of Nepal from 1995 to 1997, 2001 to 2002, 2004 to 2005, and 2017 to 2018. Deuba has been a Member of Parliament for Dadeldhura–1 since 1991. He is also the current president of the Nepali Congress, having been elected to the position in 2016.
Deuba became PM as the Supreme Court overturned Prime Minister KP Oli’s May 21 decision to dissolve the House of Representatives and ordered the appointment of Deuba as PM.
Deuba now will face an uphill task because 23 MPs of the Madhav Nepal faction of Oli’s party – CPN-UML — which had provided signatures to the petition against House dissolution have decided to remain with the parent party. If Deuba wins the vote of confidence by August 12, he can remain PM for about a year and a half till the next general elections.
President Bidya Devi Bhandari administered the oath of office to Deuba on Tuesday. The swearing in ceremony was delayed by hours due to a dispute between Deuba and the President’s office regarding the content of the letter of appointment. It took more than three hours for the issue to be resolved.
“The President has appointed Sher Bahadur Deuba as the Prime Minister as per the verdict of the Supreme court yesterday (Monday),” a statement issued by President Bhandari’s office had initially said.
But Bhandari was later forced issue another letter in which the relevant article of the Constitution under which the appointment was being made was mentioned. The second letter came after Deuba insisted he would not take the oath of office without the change being made in the initial letter.
Bhandari consulted with the top political leaders supporting Deuba’s candidature — Madhav Nepal, Baburam Bhattarai, Upendra Yadav and Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’ — regarding the issue before accepting Deuba’s demand, even as guests were waiting at the venue of the swearing in ceremony.
As per Article 76(5), any member of the House who presents a ground on which he can garner a vote of confidence in the House becomes the PM.
