President Bhandari dissolves parliament; new election on April 30 and May 10

Kathmandu / Dec 20: President Bidya Devi Bhandari has dissolved the House of Representatives and set new dates for the mid-term general election in May at the recommendation of Prime Minister K P Oli.

President Bhandari has announced April 30 for the first phase and May 10 for the second phase of the mid-term election.

Standing Committee of the NCP’s rival faction decides to take disciplinary action against PM Oli

A meeting of the Standing Committee members close to the rival faction of the ruling Nepal Communist Party (NCP) on Sunday decided to take disciplinary action against the party’s Chairman K P Oli, who also holds the portfolio of prime minister.

According to Standing Committee members close to the rival faction led by Pushpa Kamal Dahal, the meeting held at the prime minister’s official residence in Baluwatar also decided to take the proposal to take disciplinary action against Oli in the party’s Central Committee meeting scheduled for Monday. The ruling NCP will formally split once the party’s Central Committee meeting takes disciplinary action against Oli.

A total of 25 of 44 Standing Committee members of the party were present in the meeting. Although he earlier supported the rival faction, the party’s Vice President and the Standing Committee member Bam Dev Gautam did not attend the meeting called by the rival faction.

The meeting also decided to nominate Krishna Bahadur Mahara as the Standing Committee member of the party. A meeting of the NCP lawmakers close to Dahal and Oli is scheduled to take place on Monday.

Among other things, the meeting also strongly denounced the decision of the Prime Minister Oli to dissolve the House of Representatives, terming it unconstitutional. They have announced to stage street protests against the unconstitutional move.

Seven ministers resign en masse denouncing PM Oli’s unconstitutional move

Following the dissolution of the House of Representatives of the Federal Parliament, seven ministers have resigned en masse condemning the move of Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli to dissolve the house.

Minister for Agriculture Ghanshyam Bhusal, Tourism Minister Yogesh Kumar Bhattrai, Energy minister Barshaman Pun, Forest minister Shakti Basnet, Labour minister Rameshwor Ray Yadav, Drinking Water Minister Bina Magar and Education Minister Girirajmani Pokhrel have resigned following the latest political development.

The ministers said to be close to NCP chair Pushpa Kamal Dahal and senior leader Madhav Kumar Nepal informed of their resignation at a press conference in Singh Durbar.

“We had tried to stop the unconstitutional move of PM Oli, however, despite our maximum effort, we couldn’t succeed,” the statement issued by the resigning ministers reads. “We have resigned in protest of the move that is against the constitution, democracy, people’s mandate and political values and stability.”

“We will always work towards saving the political achievements and honor Nepali people’s sacrifice and the party’s unity amid this unprecedented crisis on the country’s politics and party,” the statement further adds.

Speaker Sapkota consults with constitutional experts

Speaker of the House of Representatives (HoR), Agni Prasad Sapkota, has consulted with constitutional as well as legal experts.

In the discussion held at the Singh Durbar for one and a half hours Sunday afternoon, the Speaker sought views of the constitutional experts in the wake of the government’s latest move to dissolve the parliament and ways to solve it, according to Shreedhar Neupane, media expert to the Speaker.