Nepal's King Gyanendra dissolved the country's lower house of parliament on Wednesday on the advice of Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba, a senior government minister said.
"The prime minister recommended to his majesty the king to dissolve the parliament and hold fresh elections," Mr Jaiprakash Prasad Gupta, Information and Communications Minister, said. "The king in his declaration has dissolved the parliament and fresh elections will be held on November 13th."
Mr Gupta said Prime Minister Deuba felt he could not carry out his constitutional obligations because the ruling party was encroaching on his ability to do so.
The move comes a day ahead of a crucial debate in parliament to extend emergency rule by six months to crush a bloody Maoist rebellion that has claimed more than 4,000 lives in six years.
Some members of Mr Deuba's ruling Nepali Congress party had opposed the extension of the state of emergency, creating a crisis for his government which lacks the numbers in parliament to approve the emergency motion.