• Wion
  • /South Asia
  • /Nepal President Bidhya Devi Bhandari calls all-party meeting as political rift deepens  - South Asia News

Nepal President Bidhya Devi Bhandari calls all-party meeting as political rift deepens 

Nepal President Bidhya Devi Bhandari calls all-party meeting as political rift deepens 

Nepal's President Bidya Devi Bhandari (C) walks with officials

Amid continued political rift, Nepal President Bidhya Devi Bhandari has called an all-party meeting on Tuesday afternoon to discuss the prevailing situation.

An official from the office of the President confirmed that the meeting has been summoned for 4 PM local time on Tuesday, where the situation of the contemporary political stalemate would be discussed.

"In order to discuss the prevailing political situation, the all-party meet has been summoned for 4 PM (Local Time) today. President has invited leaders of parties representing in parliament as well as some former prime ministers," DrBheshraj Adhikari, Secretary of President told ANI over phone.

Nepal plunged into a political stalemate after Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli on December 20recommended the dissolution of Parliament. Terming the move as a breach of the Constitution by the prime minister, the decision was challenged in Supreme Court and on February 23, the apex court reinstated the parliament.

Weeks after announcing the verdict over the dissolution of parliament, the Supreme Court revoked the unification of the erstwhile ruling Nepal Communist Party and declared the merger between the erstwhile CPN-UML and CPN Maoist Centre void.

After Supreme Court's latest decision, Oli, who earlier was leading a majority government has lost his seats in the parliament and pressure has been mounting on him to prove his majority.

Now, Oli's CPN-UML (Communist Party of Nepal- Unified Marxist Leninist) has 120 seats in parliament, followed by Nepal Congress with 63 seats (two suspended), Maoist Centre (53), and Janata Samajbadi Party with 34 seats (two suspended). There is an addition of three seats in parliament, out of which one is independent while the other two are from two different parties.