Dahal cabinet, 2022

The Dahal cabinet, 2022 or Third Dahal Cabinet is the current Government of Nepal, formed on 26 December 2022 after Pushpa Kamal Dahal was appointed as the new Prime Minister of Nepal by president Bidya Devi Bhandari, following the 2022 Nepalese general election.^[1]

History

Dahal's claim for prime minister was supported by the Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist–Leninist), Rastriya Swatantra Party, Rastriya Prajatantra Party, People's Socialist Party, Nepal, Janamat Party and Nagarik Unmukti Party, alongside his own Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist Centre).^[2] Prime Minister Dahal took his oath of office alongside three deputy prime ministers and four ministers on 26 December 2022.^[3]

On 10 January 2023, Dahal won a motion of confidence with 268 out of 270 votes in the 275-member House of Representatives, where he was supported by the ruling coalition as well as the opposition Nepali Congress, Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Socialist) and the Loktantrik Samajwadi Party, Nepal.^[4]

The cabinet was then expanded to include one more deputy prime minister, 11 ministers and three state ministers on 17 January 2023.^[5][6]

Deputy prime minister and minister for Home Affairs, Rabi Lamichhane, was stripped from his position in the cabinet on 27 January 2023 after the Supreme Court ruled that Lamichhane did not follow due process to re-obtain his Nepali citizenship after renouncing his American citizenship, and thus, he was not a legal Nepali citizen.^[7] Remaining ministers of the RSP resigned on 5 February after the party decided to call back its members from the cabinet while maintaining its support to the government.^[8]

On 25 February 2023, all ministers from the RPP resigned from the government, with the party also withdrawing its support, after a new coalition of eight parties including Nepali Congress, CPN (Maoist Centre), PSPN, CPN (US), Janamat Party, LSPN, NUP and Rastriya Janamorcha was formed with an agreement to support Nepali Congress' candidate in the upcoming presidential election.^[9][10] Shortly after, on 27 February, the CPN (UML) decided to quit government and withdraw its support as well, and its ministers resigned en-masse the same day.^[11][12]

On 20 March 2023, Dahal again secured a vote of confidence with 172 votes in his favor and 89 votes against out of the 262 members present in the 275-member lower house, where he was supported by the new eight-party ruling alliance as well as the RSP, with the CPN (UML) and RPP staying in opposition.^[13][14][15]

Following lengthened talks for the apportionment of ministries within the ruling alliance, Prime Minister Dahal expanded the cabinet on 31 March to include members from the new coalition.^[16][17][18] The power-sharing agreement between the ruling parties apportioned 8 ministries for Congress, 5 for CPN (Maoist Centre), 2-each for PSPN and CPN (US), and 1-each for Janamat, NUP, LSPN, NSP^[a] and an independent.^[19][20] Citing disagreement in portfolio division, Janamat Party exited the government a few hours before the cabinet expansion, while Nepali Congress put forward names for only four out of eight ministries allocated to them due to factional disagreements.^[21][22] The cabinet was expanded for an eighth time on 16 April 2023 to include an additional minister and a state minister.^[23] The cabinet was yet again expanded on 3 and 7 May 2023 to include further four ministers from the Nepali Congress.^[24][25] The cabinet was again expanded on 24 May 2023 to include an additional minister and state minister from the PSPN, thus bringing it to the maximum number prescribed in the constitution.^[26]

On 14 August 2023, Janamat Party rejoined the government when