Kathmandu, 13 March: Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’ has secured a vote of confidence in the House of Representatives (HoR) for the third time.
The proposal that the Prime Minister presented in the meeting of the HoR today, seeking the vote of confidence, obtained 157 votes in its favour while 110 votes went against it when the proposal was put to a voice vote for a decision.
Two hundred and sixty-eight lawmakers were present in the meeting and seven were absent. One hundred and thirty-eight votes are required for the vote of confidence in the 275-member House of Representatives.
Announcing the results of the voice vote on the proposal, Speaker Devraj Ghimire said that 157 votes were in support of the proposal. He declared on the occasion that the proposal the Prime Minister presented in the House of Representatives, seeking a vote of confidence, has been passed by a majority since the number of votes in favour of the proposal comprised a majority of the total number of members present in the HoR at the time.
Lawmakers from the parties in the ruling alliance, namely the CPN (UML), the CPN (Maoist Centre), the Rastriya Swatantra Party, the Janata Samajbadi Party Nepal, the CPN (Unified Socialist) and the Nagarik Unmukti Party, gave the vote of confidence to PM Dahal. The PM sought a vote of confidence from the parliament again today after he changed the governing coalition on March 4 and as a consequence the Nepali Congress which had been supporting that coalition withdrew its support.
