KATHMANDU, March 6: A day after the Dahal-Nepal faction of the ruling Nepal Communist Party (NCP) said that they were preparing to register a no-confidence motion against Prime Minister KP Oli with ‘a majority votes of 115 NCP lawmakers of the NCP parliamentary party, the other faction of the party led by PM Oli has claimed that they have at least 115 lawmakers in their camp.

As many as 115 lawmakers were present at a meeting of the faction’s parliamentary party at the PM’s official residence in Baluwatar on Saturday, according to the party’s chief whip in the National Assembly, Khimlal Bhattarai. “Of the total lawmakers present in today’s meeting, 91 are from the House of Representatives (HoR) and 24 from the upper house,” he added.

Bhattarai also said that the number would increase as more upper house members “have given their word to join in” tomorrow. “Also, the PM, during his address, said that the number would increase to 130.”

The NCP has a total of 224 lawmakers in the parliamentary party -- 174 in the HoR and 50 in the National Assembly. 

Yagya Raj Sunuwar, a lawmaker belonging to the Dahal-Nepal faction, on Friday said that at least 111 parliamentarians had already signed the no-confidence motion against PM Oli. Four more lawmakers will sign the proposal soon, he said.

Following the House dissolution move of PM Oli on December 20 last year, the ruling party, which got a landslide victory in the 2017 parliamentary polls, suffered a vertical split into two factions. Despite speculations that PM Oli would tender his resignation from the prime ministerial post after the Supreme Court overturned his House dissolution decision on February 23, he said that he would rather face parliament and  win the vote of confidence.

 
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