Nepal's new PM Sher Bahadur Deuba wins vote of confidence in Parliament
Kathmandu, Jul 18: Nepal's new Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba on Sunday comfortably won a vote of confidence in the House of Representatives, ensuring continuity of the twice dissolved lower house of Parliament for the remaining duration.
Deuba, the 75-year-old chief of the Nepali Congress who was appointed as the prime minister as per the Article 76(5) of the Constitution on July 12 following Supreme Court's intervention, secured 165 votes in the 275-member house on Sunday.
A total of 136 votes were required for Deuba to win Parliament's confidence.
As many as 249 lawmakers participated in the voting process and 83 of them voted against Deuba while one lawmaker remained neutral.
"I hereby declare that the motion of the vote of confidence tabled by Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba has been endorsed with a majority, House Speaker Agni Sapkota announced.
The proposal for the vote of trust was registered in the Parliament Secretariat on Sunday, the very first day of the session of the reinstated lower house.
Previously, Deuba has served as the prime minister on four occasions; first from 1995 to 1997, then from 2001 to 2002, again from 2004 to 2005, and from 2017 to 2018.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi congratulated Deuba on his success.
"Congratulations Prime Minister @DeubaSherbdr and best wishes for a successful tenure. I look forward to working with you to further enhance our unique partnership in all sectors, and strengthen our deep-rooted people-to-people ties," Modi tweeted.
Deuba took the oath of office and secrecy for a record fifth time on July 13, a day after a five-member Constitutional Bench of the Supreme Court led by Chief Justice Cholendra Shumsher Rana reinstated the dissolved House of Representatives for the second time in five months.
President Bidya Devi Bhandari had dissolved the lower house for the second time in five months on May 22 at the recommendation of Prime Minister K P Sharma Oli and announced snap elections on November 12 and November 19.
Deuba had staked the claim to form the government as per the Article 76(5) with the support of 149 lawmakers but President Bhandari had invalidated the claim, along with that made by Oli saying both claims were insufficient.
After the apex court's intervention, President Bhandari had summoned the meeting of both the Houses of the Parliament on Sunday.
In the lower house of Parliament, the ruling Nepali Congress (NC) has 61 members while its coalition partner CPN (Maoist Center) has 48 members, excluding Speaker Sapkota.
The main Opposition CPN-UML, which is Oli's party, has 121 members in the lower house, the JSP has 32 members and the other three fringe parties have a member each. There is an independent lawmaker as well.
The Nepali Congress, CPN Maoist Centre and Janata Samajbadi Party-Nepal lawmakers voted in favour of Deuba. The Thakur-Mahato faction of the JSP-N also decided to support Deuba at the last minute.
Close to a dozen lawmakers of the UML left the House after Deuba's victory was certain. However, the remaining 22 lawmakers, including Madhav Kumar Nepal himself, voted for Deuba.
Interestingly, as many as 8 lawmakers from the Oli faction voted in Deuba's favour. All in all, around 30 lawmakers from the opposition party defied the party whip to vote against Deuba.
Former prime minister and senior leader of the Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist Leninist) Jhalanath Khanal, who is undergoing treatment at a hospital in New Delhi, had issued a statement, asking his party's lawmakers to vote in favour of Deuba.
With his victory, Deuba is set to remain prime minister for a year and a half, until elections are held.
Nepal plunged into a political crisis on December 20 last year after President Bhandari dissolved the House and announced fresh elections on April 30 and May 10 at the recommendation of Prime Minister Oli, amidst a tussle for power within the ruling Nepal Communist Party (NCP).
On February 23, the apex court reinstated the dissolved House of Representatives, in a setback to embattled Prime Minister Oli who was preparing for snap polls.
Congratulations Prime Minister @DeubaSherbdr and best wishes for a successful tenure. I look forward to working with you to further enhance our unique partnership in all sectors, and strengthen our deep-rooted people-to-people ties.
— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) July 18, 2021
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No unannounced load shedding in Kerala, outages due to overload, says Minister
Palakkad (PTI): Kerala Electricity Minister K Krishnankutty on Saturday said there was no unannounced load shedding in the state, attributing recent power interruptions to temporary overload caused by high consumption.
Clarifying concerns raised from various parts of the state, the minister said the disruptions are not deliberate but occur when demand peaks, particularly between 10 pm and 11 pm.
"It is not being done intentionally. Power consumption has risen sharply, and when there is excessive and indiscriminate usage, the system experiences overload, leading to natural supply interruptions," he told reporters here.
His remarks come amid complaints that several areas have been witnessing frequent power cuts, often lasting around 15 minutes and occurring multiple times during the night.
Krishnankutty said the state's power demand has crossed 6,195 MW, putting pressure on the supply system. He added that around 70 per cent of Kerala's electricity is procured from outside, and existing power banking arrangements have been exhausted.
"We have approached the Regulatory Commission seeking permission to purchase more power. However, this will come at a higher cost," he said.
The minister said the government is trying to avoid increasing electricity tariffs and urged consumers to exercise restraint in usage to help manage the situation.
Responding to opposition criticism over the ruling LDF's earlier claims of a decade without power cuts, he said the current situation is not unique to Kerala.
A power crisis is emerging across the country, he said, and sarcastically asked the Opposition to take note of the role of natural factors in this.
Krishnankutty expressed confidence that the situation would improve within two days, while cautioning that long-term energy security would depend on enhancing in-state power generation.
He also warned that future generations could face serious challenges if adequate electricity production capacity is not developed within Kerala.
