Sher Bahadur Deuba takes oath as Nepal's PM for record fifth time; ceremony delayed

Nepali Congress President Sher Bahadur Deuba has formally become the countrys Prime Minister for a record fifth time after the Supreme Courts interventionThe 75yearold veteran politician took the oath of office and secrecy from President Bidya Devi Bhandari during a swearingin ceremonyThe ceremony initially set to be held at 600 pm 1745 IST was delayed after Deuba said he would not take the oath of office until the President revises the notice of his appointment A fivemember Constitutional Bench led by Chief Justice Cholendra Shumsher Rana in its order had said that Deuba must be appointed the Prime Minister in line with Article 76 5 of the ConstitutionHowever the presidents office has failed to disclose the article under which Deuba is being made the prime minister in the notice The Himalayan Times reportedAfter receiving some legal counsel Deuba sent across a message to President Bhandari that he will not take the oath until the error is rectified the paper saidThe oathtaking ceremony took place two hours later than scheduled at around 815 pm after the presidents office issued a revised notice Four new ministers two each from Nepali Congress NC and CPNMaoist Centre also took the oath of officeNCs Balkrishna Khand and Gyanendra Bahadur Karki have been sworn in as Home Minister and Minister for Law and Parliamentary affairs respectively Pampha Bhusal and Janardan Sharma from Maoist Centre have been appointed Minister for Energy and Minister for Finance respectively Chief Justice Rana CPNMaoist Centre Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal Prachanda and senior leader of CPNUML Madhav Kumar Nepal were also present on the occasionThis is the fifth time that Deuba is returning to power as the Prime Minister of Nepal He has replaced incumbent 69yearold K P Sharma Oli who has accused the apex court of deliberately passing the verdict in favour of the Opposition parties Earlier in the day Bhesh Raj Adhikary personal secretary of President Bhandari told reporters that In line with the apex courts verdict President Bhandari named Deuba as the Prime Minister Previously Deuba served as Nepals Prime Minister four times from June 2017February 2018 June 2004February 2005July 2001October 2002 and September 1995March 1997Also Read Army Chief General Bipin Rawat calls on Nepal PM Sher Bahadur DeubaDeuba is required to seek a vote of confidence from the House of Representatives within 30 days of his appointment as the Prime Minister as per the constitutional provisions The Supreme Court on Monday overturned Prime Minister Olis May 21 decision to dissolve the House of Representatives and ordered the appointment of Deuba as prime minister It said that Olis claim to the post of prime minister was unconstitutional Reinstating the House yet again the court had restored the House earlier on February 23 after Oli dissolved it on December 20 the bench ordered to make arrangements for holding the House meeting by 5 PM on July 18In its order the constitutional bench said President Bhandaris decision to reject Deubas claim to form a new government was unconstitutional Oli who was heading a minority government after losing a trust vote in the House has repeatedly defended his move to dissolve the House of Representatives saying some leaders of his party were attempting to form a parallel governmentThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever