KATHMANDU, MAY 14

President Bidya Devi Bhandari has administered the office of oath and secrecy to KP Sharma Oli, who was reappointed Prime Minister of Nepal on Thursday.

Oli was sworn-in amid a ceremony at the President's official residence, Shital Niwas, at around 2:30 pm.

President Bhandari moved ahead with Oli's appointment in line with Article 76 (3) of the Constitution that provisions formation of a government by the largest party in the Parliament. His will albeit be a minority government as Oli does not enjoy a majority in the parliament after losing the vote of confidence.

Oli has not made any changes to his former cabinet and kept the same faces, who too were sworn in at the ceremony.

Earlier, the President had invited the opposition party or an alliance of parties in opposition to stake claim for the post pursuant to Article 76 (2) by 9:00 pm on Thursday.

Opposition parties Nepali Congress and NCP-Maoist Centre dropped claim as they couldn't gather the required numbers to form a majority government, primarily because of Madhav Nepal faction going soft on arch-rival Oli in the last hour. The opposition's chances were further trimmed due to two polar opposite factions within the Janata Samajwadi Party.

As the parliamentary politics is rife with pull and push of number games, Nepal grapples with shortages of medical supplies, mismanagement of the situation by state, spiking infections and fatalities amid the raging second wave of the pandemic.