KATHMANDU —  Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli has failed to get a vote of confidence in Parliament. 

In the House of Representatives on Monday, Speaker Agni Sapkota declared that there were 93 votes in favor of the Prime Minister and 124 against. Fifteen MPs remained neutral.

A total of 232 MPs were present at the polls.

The main opposition Nepali Congress, CPN-Maoist Center, JSP’s Baburam Bhattarai-Upendra Yadav faction, Rashtriya Janamorcha had voted against the proposal. The Mahanta Thakur-Rajendra Mahato faction of the party remained neutral. Some lawmakers from UML’s Madhav Nepal-Jhalanath Khanal faction were absent from the meeting. 

After failing to get a vote of confidence, the Prime Minister has automatically been relieved from his position as per the constitution.

Article 100, Clause 3 of the Constitution states that the Prime Minister shall be relieved of his post if the proposal submitted pursuant to Clauses (1) and (2) is not passed by a majority of the total number of members present in the House of Representatives. 

At present, there are 271 members in the House of Representatives. Out of which, the Prime Minister needed 136 votes to save the government. He did not even get full votes from his own party.

Now the government led by him has automatically become caretaker. Now the president will call for the formation of a new government. The main opposition Congress and the UCPN (Maoist) have demanded that the process of forming a coalition government be started in accordance with Article 76 (2) of the Constitution. 

If the opposition fails to form a majority government then Nepal will be heading into elections or Oli will be reinstated as the PM again as he leads the largest party.

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