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

Amid continued political rift in the Himalayan nation, 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," Dr Bheshraj Adhikari, Secretary of President told ANI over the phone.

Nepal plunged into a state of political stalemate after Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli on December 20 last year recommended the dissolution of Parliament to the President. 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 later 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 sets (2 suspended), Maoist Centre (53), and Janata Samajbadi Party with 34 seats (2 suspended). There is an addition of 3 seats in Parliament out of which one is independent while the other two are from two different parties.