KATHMANDU, MAY 23

Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli today said the discretion to determine whether or not a person claiming to have enough support to form a new government under Article 76 (5) could win the vote of confidence in the House of Representatives was the only discretionary power given to the president and that could not be challenged in a court.

Speaking at an interaction organised by Press Chautari, Nepal, the PM said anybody who wanted to stake claim to form the government under Article 76 (5) must have their party's support.

Individual members' support means nothing, he added.

The PM said 26 UML lawmakers and 12 Janata Samajbadi Party-Nepal lawmakers who supported Nepali Congress President Sher Bahadur Deuba on Friday to help him form the government did so illegally. The PM said he claimed to have the support of 121 UML and 32 JSP-N lawmakers as he was the parliamentary party leader of the UML and JSP-N's parliamentary party leader Rajendra Mahato had backed him. But the President did not accept his claim as some UML and JSP-N lawmakers had also supported Deuba's bid.

The PM accused the NC of following 'Prachandapath' to try and capture state power. The PM said since the HoR was unable to fulfil the country's needs, its dissolution was necessary. He said he would ensure free, fair, and impartial elections.

'National and international support to combat COVID-19 is increasing and I will try to ensure that all citizens are vaccinated before the November 12 and 19 mid-term polls,' the PM added.

He claimed the House was dissolved constitutionally. He said he wanted to focus on COVID-control measures and development projects, but his opponents were trying to drag him into a legal battle over the dissolution of the HoR.

A version of this article appears in the print on May 24, 2021, of The Himalayan Times.