KATHMANDU, MARCH 31
Chief Whip of CPN-Maoist Centre Dev Prasad Gurung today said in the House of Representatives that Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli must seek a vote of confidence by April 5.
He said the PM was required to seek a vote of confidence within one month of the Supreme Court's verdict that annulled unification between the CPN-UML and CPN-Maoist Centre.
A division bench of justices Bam Kumar Shrestha and Kumar Regmi had on March 7 annulled the unification of the two left parties.
Speaking in the HoR today, Gurung said that as per Article 100 (2) of the constitution, the PM was required to seek a vote of confidence within a month of the SC verdict nullifying the unification of the CPN-UML and the CPN-MC. He said if the government sought a vote of confidence within 30 days of the SC verdict, it would be considered legal, otherwise questions about the legality of the government would be raised.
Article 100 (2) states that in case the prime minister's party splits or a coalition partner withdraws support, the PM should seek a vote of confidence within 30 days.
He said the Oli-led government was a caretaker government, whether the PM agreed or not. Gurung said on February 23, the Supreme Court reinstated only the HoR, not the government.
He said whenever the House was dissolved, the government of the day became a caretaker government.
Gurung said the government was not giving business to the Parliament to prove that the PM was right in dissolving the HoR. "The PM still seems to be trying to dissolve the House of Representatives.
The government has not accepted the Supreme Court's verdict that reinstated the HoR," Gurung said.
He said the government wanted snap polls, but the constitution had stipulated that the government should complete five years.
The SC in its February 23 ruling had said the government must run for five years and the HoR could be dissolved only when the HoR failed to give a new government.
A version of this article appears in the print on April 1, 2021, of The Himalayan Times.
