Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli has said he was preparing to seek a confidence motion on May 10 from the House of Representatives.

During the Cabinet meeting held on Sunday evening, Prime Minister Oli told ministers that he will face Parliament to prove the majority of the government.

“The Prime Minister will seek a vote of confidence on May 10,” Lila Nath Shrestha, Minister for Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs, told the Post. “This is just a day-long session.”

Shrestha said Oli wants to take a vote of confidence to take the political process which has been stuck now, forward.

The government believes it will win the vote of confidence. If not, the process will move forward for the formation of a coalition government.

“This is also an opportunity for other parties to form the government otherwise the country will move in the direction of the snap poll,” he said.

President Bidya Devi Bhandari has called a session of the House of Representatives for the prime minister to seek a vote of confidence as per Article 93 (1) of the constitution, according to a statement of the President’s office.

After the March 7 decision of the Supreme Court sent the Nepal Communist Party to its pre-merger state reviving CPN-UML and Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist Centre), the KP Oli led government has turned a coalition one but the prime minister has been saying he commands the majority in as the Maoist Centre has not yet withdrawn its support.

However, leaders of the Maoist Centre have been saying that the court’s decision means that the government does not have their party’s support. The Maoist Centre instead has been working hard to topple the Oli government.

With 120 votes in the 275-member House of Representatives, the UML would not have a majority if the Maoist Centre votes against it. In that case, he would need the support of the Janata Samajbadi Party, which has 32 votes in Parliament. But there are differences of opinion in the party about extending support to the Oli government.

UML leaders have said the Prime Minister Oli seems to be in a mood to test the floor as there have been so many questions over numbers as the political developments in the provinces have shown and also because the government has to announce its policy and programmes and then the annual budget.

According to the constitutional provision, the government must announce the budget for the next fiscal year that begins in mid-July on the 15th day of the second month of the Nepali calendar which falls on May 29 this year.

“There are suspicions all over that lawmakers of UML will cross the floor given the situation in the provinces including Karnali, Gandaki and now in Lumbini,” said Subhas Chandra Nembang, deputy leader of UML parliamentary party. “The prime minister has the prerogative to test support in Parliament any time he wishes.”

Nembang said his party would continue in government if other parties support the motion or else it would stay in the opposition.

After the meeting of the party’s emergency Standing Committee earlier on Monday, Prime Minister Oli had gone to meet President Bhandari.