Cabinet to meet at 3 p.m. today, first sitting in more than two weeks

Prime Minister Balen Shah has called a meeting of the Council of Ministers for 3 p.m. today (Tuesday, Kartik 17, 2083; November 3, 2026), the first in more than two weeks. It will be held at the Office of the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers in Singha Durbar.

Onlinekhabar's Nepali report, which cites the Office of the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers, says the meeting was called for 3 p.m. Nagarik News and DC Nepal also give 3 p.m. Onlinekhabar's English edition prints 4 p.m. for the same meeting, again citing the office; this report uses the time in the Nepali original.

The cabinet last met on Asoj 30, 2083 (October 16, 2026). On November 2, Nepal Khabar reported that 17 days had passed without a meeting, and said Shah, who it said had been holding them on Mondays and Thursdays, had not called one as nearly three weeks approached. Part of the gap was the festival break: Nepal Khabar and Corporate Nepal say this year's Dashain holiday ran from Asoj 31 to Kartik 8 (October 17 to 25), and that the Tihar holiday begins on Kartik 21 (November 7). Annapurna Post noted that the Prime Minister can call an emergency or special meeting at any time, yet the cabinet has not sat for more than two weeks.

Outlets have offered different explanations for the delay. Annapurna Post, in a report headlined "Effect of the Inam factor", wrote that the meetings stopped after reports surfaced of connections between "high-profile" people and Inam Sapkota, whom it describes as a controversial figure. Corporate Nepal, citing unnamed sources, attributed it to disagreements inside the ruling Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) over how the government is run, and said no formal agreement on those issues had been made public. Both accounts are the outlets' own reporting; neither is a statement from the government.

The number of decisions at the October 16 meeting is also reported differently. Nepal Khabar and Corporate Nepal say the cabinet made 12; Annapurna Post says 13, including approval of the Nepal Special Service (21st Amendment) Regulations, 2083.

DC Nepal reported that the meeting is expected to decide on ministries' routine administrative proposals, promotions and appointments held up while the cabinet did not sit. The reports gathered so far were published before the meeting began, so its decisions are not covered here.