The political crisis in Nepal deepened on Tuesday, after the Pushpa Kumar Dahal “Prachanda” faction of the Nepal Communist Party announced the decision to replace Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli as the co-chairman of the outfit with Madhav Kumar Nepal, the Hindustan Times reported.
Earlier during the day, both Dahal and Oli’s factions held their meetings, following which Narayan Kaji Shrestha, a spokesperson of the Nepal Communist Party, said that 315 of the 446 members of the central committee voted in favour of the decision to appoint Madhav Kumar Nepal, ANI reported.
Meanwhile, Oli also presided over a party meet and announced the formation of a 1,199-member committee to organise the party’s general convention, according to ANI.
The Oli faction added 556 members to expand the existing central committee, in order to strengthen its stronghold in the panel, which currently has a majority of Prachanda loyalists, according to the Hindustan Times. However, the move may not fructify as the election commission can only recognise the expansion of the central committee if it has been approved by a majority vote of the existing strength of the panel, the newspaper reported.
The frantic political developments in Nepal have been sparked off after Prime Minister Oli dissolved the country’s Parliament and announced snap elections between April 30 and May 10. President Bidhya Devi Bhandari ratified the proposal on Sunday itself.
The decision to dissolve the House, an unprecedented move, has been met with backlash as 12 petitions against it have been filed in the country’s Supreme Court, according to ANI. A number of ministers have also resigned from Oli’s Cabinet.
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