Nepal's ruling alliance starts preparations to oust Deputy House Speaker

Kathmandu [Nepal], August 19 (ANI): Nepali ruling alliance of Nepali Congress and the CPN-UML (Communist Party of Nepal- Unified Marxist Leninist) is preparing to make another push to oust the Deputy House Speaker Indira Rana Magar.
According to the leaders of both parties, emergency meetings have been called for Tuesday to oust Deputy House Speaker Magar, whom Prime Minister Oli described as having "has low and biased performance."
"An emergency meeting of the CPN- UML parliamentary party is being convened now to discuss the matter," a CPN- UML leader confirmed to ANI.
Another ruling alliance, Nepali Congress, has also called for a parliamentary party meeting later in the afternoon to discuss removing the deputy house speaker, another leader from the Nepali Congress confirmed ANI.
The ruling alliance has also started the signature collection campaign to remove the Deputy Speaker from the post, where some of the lawmakers have already signed, expressing their support to remove her from the post.
As the constitution requires a two-thirds majority to remove the Deputy House Speaker from the post and the ruling alliance falling short of it, the leaders also confirmed ANI that consultation with smaller parties is also underway.
The House of Representatives currently has 274 members, and the ruling alliance requires 183 votes, but the Nepali Congress, as of now, only has 88, and the CPN-UML only has 79 seats, which brings the combined votes to 167. The ruling alliance is falling short of 16 votes to remove the deputy house speaker from the post.
In the ruling alliance, the Janata Samajbadi Party has 7 seats, Janamat has 6, the Loktantrik Samajbadi Party has 4, and the Nagarik Unmukti Party has four seats. "It is not clear whether all the parties on board the government will vote in favour of the motion. Discussion has been ongoing about garnering their support," a leader from the ruling party told ANI.
Deputy Speaker Rana Magar has continued to land in controversies. In the year 2024, Deputy Speaker Rana had written a letter to the United States Embassy in Kathmandu to schedule visa interviews for six people, including herself.
On February 26, 2023, Deputy Speaker Rana had written to the embassy to arrange dates for visa interviews, saying she and five others were going to the US to participate in the NGO CSW67 event held in New York. She had mentioned in the letter that the event was important for everyone, including herself, and that she had given top priority to the invitation from the United Nations. But later it was revealed that it was an attempt of human trafficking.
Article 91, sub-section (6)(c) of the Constitution stipulates that if a resolution to remove the Speaker or Deputy Speaker is passed by a two-thirds majority of the total members of the House, the individual in question shall be removed from office.
The move to remove Rana, who was appointed Deputy Speaker from the Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) quota, has stirred the political landscape. One-fourth of the members of the HoR can file an impeachment motion. (ANI)