Nepal Prime Minister K.P. Sharma Oli loses vote of confidence in Parliament

KATHMANDU: Nepal Prime Minister K.P. Sharma Oli on Monday lost the vote of confidence in the Parliament with 93 lawmakers voting in favour of the motion, 124 against it, while 15 remained neutral.

Oli needed 136 votes to win the trust vote in the 271-strong House of Representatives. Of the 232 lawmakers present in the House on Monday, 93 cast their votes in favour of Oli, while 124 voted against the motion. A total of 15 lawmakers remained neutral.

As many as 28 lawmakers from his own party CPN-UML were absent in the voting. The Nepali Congress and the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist Centre), which control 61 and 49 votes, respectively, voted against Oli's trust motion.

The JanataSamajbadi Party, which has 32 votes, however, was divided. While the Mahantha Thakur-led faction stayed neutral, the UpendraYadav-led group voted against Oli. Earlier, Oli had urged the disgruntled faction of the party to not take any decision in haste. "I would like to draw the attention of all the lawmakers to the fact that it is not necessary to rush into any improper decision. Let's sit down together, discuss and solve any problems," he tweeted.

Oli was elected the Prime Minister in February 2018 with the support Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist Center) whose chairman is Pushpa Kamal Dahal aka Prachanda. But the party merger was scrapped by the Supreme Court in March. Two former Prime Ministers, Madhav Kumar Nepal and JhalanathKhanal, are leading the dissatisfaction camp inside the party. (IANS)

Also Read: Nepal's opposition parties begin talks to unseat PM Oli

Also Watch: Organisations demand Cabinet Berth for UPPL MLA Lawrence Islary