President Bidya Devi Bhandari has prorogued the ongoing House session from 1pm Monday on the recommendation of the government.

Earlier in the morning, a Cabinet meeting had decided to recommend prorogation of the current session of the House of Representatives from 1pm Monday.

According to a notice published by the Office of the President, the current House session has been prorogued from 1pm Monday as per Article 93(2) of the Constitution of Nepal on the recommendation of the Council of Ministers.

The winter session of the House began on March 7, after the Supreme Court on February 23 overturned Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli’s decision to dissolve it on December 20 last year. At the time of the dissolution, the House was in recess, as the previous session had been prorogued on July 2.

The government decision to prorogue the House comes amid talks among opposition parties to bring a no-confidence motion against the Oli government.

Over the last one and a half months since the House was reinstated, it remained largely dysfunctional, with the government refusing to provide any business.

The government decision to prorogue the House also comes amid concerns if Oli is making attempts to dissolve it again.

Oli refused to step down despite the Supreme Court overturning his House dissolution decision, calling it unconstitutional.

The day the House held its first meeting on March 7 after its reinstatement, the Supreme Court, in a dramatic decision, scrapped the Nepal Communist Party (NCP) and revived the CPN-UML and the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist Centre).

The court decision turned the Parliament into a hung Parliament, with no parties having a majority. The Oli government, however, continued with the Maoist Centre’s support it had lent the UML after the 2017 election results. The UML had won 121 seats and the Maoist Centre 53 seats in the lower house. With four of its members defecting to Oli, the Maoist Centre currently has 49 members in the lower house.

The Maoist Centre, however, did not withdraw the support it lent Oli back in February 2018, thereby creating a situation of status quo.

Though there were talks between the Nepali Congress, the main opposition, the Maoist Centre and the Janata Samajbadi Party, the fourth but key force in Parliament, to form a coalition government, there was no concrete progress.