Kathmandu, Aug. 20 -- On Tuesday, the country's politics suddenly heated up. The reason was the ruling parties, the Nepali Congress and the CPN-UML, ramping up their efforts to remove Deputy Speaker Indira Rana Magar from her post, a move they had abandoned after extensive efforts a year earlier.

To push for her removal, both major ruling parties, the Congress and the UML, collected signatures from their lawmakers.

From the Congress side, however, most leaders from the dissident faction led by Shekhar Koirala, and general secretaries Gagan Thapa and Bishwa Prakash Sharma, did not take part, whereas most UML lawmakers signed.

The ruling Congress holds 88 seats in the House of Representatives, while the UML has 77 seats. To remove Deputy...