Nepal PM KP Sharma Oli expelled from ruling Nepal Communist Party

Nepal PM KP Sharma Oli has been expelled from the ruling Nepal Communist Party (NCP) over his decision to dissolve the Parliament.

The Prime Minister was removed from the party by a Central Committee at a meeting of the party's splinter group held on January 24, 2021. 

Nepal's Caretaker PM KP Sharma Oli (file photo) removed from ruling Nepal Communist Party by a Central Committee Meeting of the splinter group of the party.

"His membership has been revoked," Spokesperson for the splinter group, Narayan Kaji Shrestha confirmed ANI. pic.twitter.com/6vc91tt03k

— ANI (@ANI) January 24, 2021

The decision comes amid repeated threats by the rival faction leaders who had said that they would revoke Oli's membership over his decision to dissolve the Nepal Parliament. The rival faction spokesperson Narayankaji Shrestha said that the party leaders are planning further action against Oli after his ouster from the party.

Key Details

• The splinter group led by former Prime Ministers Pushpa Kamal Dahal and Madhav Kumar had earlier asked PM Oli for explanation for his unconstitutional decisions. 

• The faction had event sent a letter to the Prime Minister's residence to seek clarification. However, PM Oli did not respond to the letter.

• The rival faction spokesperson said that they waited for long for a reply from the Prime Minister but he didn't reply to them.

• He added that the latest decision was taken by exercising the executive rights provided by the Central Committee of the party.

Decisions by both factions didn’t come in line with party’s statute, so can’t update Nepal Communist Party's details. We've notified KP Oli & Pushpa Kamal Dahal, making it clear that Commission will maintain party's existing details: Nepal Election Commission spox Raj Kr Shrestha https://t.co/HmNqzCzGPn

— ANI (@ANI) January 25, 2021

What had happened?

Nepal went into a political crisis on December 20, 2020 after Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli recommended the dissolution of the Parliament amid a tussle for power with former PM Pushpa Kamal Dahal Prachanda. 

Nepal President Bidhya Devi Bhandari had accepted the recommendations of the Prime Minister and the Parliament was dissolved. The Parliamentary elections are now scheduled to be held between April 30 and May 10, 2021.

The rival faction led by Former PM Prachanda had come down heavily on the move saying that by dissolving the House, the Prime Minister has given a blow to the Constitution as well as the democratic republic system.

Background

The ruling Nepal Communist Party (NCP) was formed after merging of Oli's CPN-UML and Prachanda-led NCP (Maoist Centre) in 2018.

However, soon after Oli announced his controversial decision, the NCP split into two factions and both claimed to be the faction that inherited the authentic essence of the party.

The Election Commission of Nepal will now have to decide which faction will retain the election emblem of the "sun".