Prime Minister of Nepal Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’ failed to garner a vote of confidence in the House of Representatives on Friday. He successfully survived four consecutive floor tests since assuming the high office on December 25, 2022, but lost the trust vote on his fifth attempt and his tenure ended in 18 months.

During a special session of the Parliament on Friday, Prime Minister Prachanda tabled a confidence motion. 63 votes went in favour of the proposal and 194 voted against him. 138 votes were required to pass the trust motion.

A total of 258 lawmakers were present in the special session of the 275-member Lower House during the voting on Friday. As soon as President Ramchandra Paudel summoned HoR members for staking a claim for prime ministerial post in accordance with Article 76 (2) of the constitution, the major political parties in the House of Representatives (HoR), the Nepali Congress and the CPN-UML, claimed the PM post for UML Chair KP Sharma Oli, reaching the President’s Office on Friday night.

Nepali Congress President Sher Bahadur Deuba and UML Chair Oli in the capacity of party leaders submitted 165 signatures of HoR members for Oli’s appointment as PM by the President.

President Paudel had summoned the HoR members as per Article 76 (2) of constitution for staking claim for PM with the support of two or more political parties after the Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal Prachanda failed to secure a trust vote in the HoR meeting. The President had given the deadline for it till 5:00 pm coming Sunday.

By Sweta Singh (Kathmandu)