KATHMANDU, Oct. 14 (Xinhua) -- Nepali Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba on Saturday expanded his cabinet for the seventh time since he came to power in June this year.
Deuba inducted four new cabinet ministers and four state ministers taking the total strength of the cabinet to 64.
This is the biggest cabinet in the Himalayan country's history, according to local media reports.
Kamal Thapa has been appointed as the Deputy Prime Minister while three others have been appointed ministers without portfolio.
Jayant Chand, Dilanath Giri and Bikram Thapa have been appointed ministers without portfolio in the Deuba-led Cabinet, according to a statement issued by the President Office on Saturday.
Similarly Kunti Shahi, Bhaskar Bhadra, Sushil Shrestha and Kanta Bhattrai have been appointed as the state ministers.
Newly appointed ministers were administered oath of office by the prime minister at a special ceremony held at the Presidential Palace in the capital on Saturday evening.
All the new ministers and state ministers belong to Rashtriya Prajantantra Party (Party) which had decided to lend support to the current government at the Parliament recently.
Deuba, who is also the president of ruling Nepali Congress, has faced severe criticisms from multiple quarters for presiding over the biggest-ever cabinet in Nepal.
Legal experts have labelled the prime minister's move to expand the Cabinet as "unconstitutional," calling it "a serious breach of the election code of conduct" ahead of forthcoming provincial and parliament elections.
"This is a serious breach of the election code of conduct by the prime minister at a time when the country is set to hold the provincial and parliament elections soon," Bipin Adhikari, a senior constitutional expert in Nepal, wrote on Twitter.
Earlier, the prime minister had expanded the cabinet on Sept. 11.
Deuba came to power as the 40th prime minister on June 7, a day after he was elected in the Parliament with the support of nearly two-thirds of the members of the 593-strong parliament.
Deuba is leading the coalition government in alliance with CPN (Maoist Centre) and some other fringe parties. This is the fourth time Deuba is at the helm of the government.
