KATHMANDU - Nepali President Ram Chandra Poudel on Friday evening called on political parties commanding a majority in the lower house to form a new coalition government by Sunday afternoon, hours after Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal lost a vote of trust.

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"As a letter has been received from the House of Representatives that the prime minister failed the vote of confidence, the president has called a member of the lower house commanding a majority with the support of two or more than two parties to claim for the government as per Article 76 (2) of the Constitution by 5 in the afternoon on Sunday," Shailaja Regmi Bhattarai, spokesperson for the President's Office, said in a statement.

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No single party won a majority of seats in the lower house in the general election held in November 2022.

The Nepali Congress and the Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist Leninist), the largest two in the chamber, agreed to join hands for a new coalition on the night of July 1, and the latter quit and withdrew support to the coalition government led by Dahal two days later.

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Dahal opted for a vote of trust in the lower house, the fifth since he became the head of a coalition government in late December 2022, after he rejected calls for his resignation to pave the way for a new coalition.