Nepal Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’ ready to seek vote of confidence

Kathmandu: Nepal Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’ is set to seek a vote of confidence from the House of Representatives on Wednesday, days after he dumped the Nepali Congress and forged a new alliance with the Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist-Leninist) (CPN-UML).

Prachanda, a former guerilla leader belonging to the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist Centre), the third largest party in the HoR, on Sunday sent a letter to the Parliament Secretariat to this effect.

According to constitutional provisions, prime ministers have to take a vote of confidence after any ally withdraws support. Prachanda is required to prove his majority after he lost the support of the previous ally, the Nepali Congress, the largest party in the HoR.

The new government requires at least 138 votes in the 275-member House of Representatives to win the vote of trust. Wednesday's vote of confidence will be the third such by Prachanda, 69, since he assumed office in December 2022.

The Prachanda-led coalition government currently enjoys the support of 150 members in the lower house of Parliament.

The second-largest party in the HoR, CPN-UML, led by former premier KP Sharma Oli, has 76 seats, while the third-largest party, CPN-Maoist Centre, has 32 seats. Similarly, the Rastriya Swatantra Party, the Janata Samajwadi Party and the CPN-Unified Socialist have 20, 12 and 10 seats, respectively.

Out of a total of 78 lawmakers of the CPN-UML in the lower house, one of the members has passed away, while another is suspended.

The CPN-Maoist Centre has issued a whip to all of its members of the HoR to be present in the lower house on March 13.

Meanwhile, the Nepali Congress party has asked its members to vote against the Prachanda government.

Prachanda became the prime minister for the third term with the support of the Nepali Congress on December 25, 2022.

After breaking the alliance with the Nepali Congress, Prachanda joined hands with Oli, who was regarded as Prachanda’s top critic.

Last year, Prachanda faced a floor test after the CPN-UML withdrew its support to the Prachanda-led government following a rift over backing the main opposition party’s candidate for the presidential poll.

In the 2017 election, Prachanda and Oli merged their parties and secured a comfortable majority. Oli became the prime minister, but their partnership ended halfway following differences between them.