Four ministers of Nepal’s Oli government on Thursday lost their parliamentary membership, reported the Himalayan Times. The disqualification came as all four have switched their side from the CPN-MC, led by Dahal, to Oli’s CPN-UML. 

Top Bahadur Rayamajhi, Lekharaj Bhatta, Prabhu Sah, and Gauri Shankar Chaudhary have been disqualified today. On Tuesday, Dahal, the parliamentary leader of the CPN-MC, wrote a letter to the Parliament Secretariat, seeking their disqualification. 

All four ministers had fought the 2017 general elections from the Dahal party. However, after the unification of communist parties in 2018, they became loyal to Oli. Meanwhile, the rift between Oli and Dahal continued to grow.

Importantly, the recent decision of Nepal’s Supreme Court-- nullifying the merger of the communist parties--played a key role in their disqualification. Once the apex court decision revived the two parties, the CPN-UML and the CPN-MC, the four ministers jumped ship and joined Oli’s CPN- UML. 

Oli even made them members of the party’s central committee. 

The speaker of the Nepali parliament today announced their disqualification. As per the constitution, if representative defects from the mother party, then the post held by them will be automatically deemed vacant from the date the representative quits the mother party.