Writ petition filed against appointment of Oli as Prime Minister

KATHMANDU: A writ petition has been filed in the Supreme Court against the appointment of KP Sharma Oli as Prime Minister.

Advocates Deepak Adhikari, Khagendra Chapagain, and Shailendra Kumar Gupta filed the petition before Oli was sworn in, claiming that President Ram Chandra Poudel’s call for the formation of a new government under Article 76 (2) and subsequent appointment of Oli as the Prime Minister is unconstitutional.

Oli was sworn in on Monday morning. He has formed a 22-member cabinet which includes ministers from the Nepali Congress, CPN-UML, Janata Samajbadi Party (JSP) and Loktantrik Samajbadi Party (LSP).

The Supreme Court has scheduled a hearing in the case for July 21, according to Govinda Ghimire, the assistant spokesperson for the Supreme Court.

The petitioners have argued that after Pushpa Kamal Dahal, who was previously appointed Prime Minister with the support of two or more parties under Article 76 (2), failed to secure a vote of confidence, a Prime Minister should have been appointed according to Article 76 (3).

“If a majority government formed under Clause (2) fails to secure a vote of confidence, then as per Clause (3), the leader of the largest party should become Prime Minister,” the petitioners have argued. “The President should have called upon the leader of the largest party in the Parliament to form a government under Article 76 (3). Instead, the decision to call for government formation under Clause (2), contrary to the constitutional provision, and the subsequent letter, appointment, and oath-taking should be annulled by an order of certiorari. We request a mandamus order to be issued in the name of the respondents to call for government formation as per Article 76 (3) of the Constitution.”