Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’ received 157 votes in his favour in the floor test in Nepal parliament today. CPN (Maoist Centre) Chairperson Dahal had presented a proposal in the House of Representatives as per Rule 155 of the House of Representatives Regulations, 2079 BS, seeking a vote of confidence under Article 100, Sub-Article (2) of the Constitution of Nepal.
Addressing the meeting of the House of Representatives, the Prime Minister tabled the proposal, seeking a vote of confidence as the Prime Minister. Making a statement in the parliament, he urged lawmakers to give him a vote of confidence to prevent various sorts of anomalies inconsistent with the spirit of the constitution.
He argued on the occasion that the government needed to get the confidence vote to improve the business environment in the economy and to bring about a change in the social anarchy, rage and negative thinking engendered by the political instability, for which a new alliance was important.
Due to discontent in governance, differences in power sharing and several other reasons, the alliance between Nepali Congress and CPN (Maoist Center) broke and a new alliance was forged by Prachanda with K P Sharma Oli led CPN (UML), and other three parties Rastriya Swatantra Party, Janata Samajbadi Party and Unified Socialist.
Speaking at the outset of the meeting of the House of Representatives today, Nepali Congress Whip Sushila Thing alleged that Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’ has rewarded a person with a controversial image linked to cooperative fraud by appointing him as minister instead of taking legal action against that person. She also, through the Speaker, drew the attention of the government that no action had been taken when the then Vice President Nanda Bahadur Pun’s Secretariat and his family members were found involved in gold smuggling.
Pushpa Kamal Dahal, also the chairperson of the CPN (Maoist Centre), was elected the Prime Minister on 25 December 2022. He had taken the vote of confidence on 10 January 2023. Out of the 270 lawmakers present in the parliament, 268 gave a vote of confidence to PM Dahal. At the moment, all the parties, including Nepali Congress had given him a vote of confidence.
During the presidential election, the ruling coalition changed again. CPN (UML), Rastriya Swatantra Party and Rastriya Prajatantra Party withdrew their support to the government. Prime Minister Dahal again took the vote of confidence on 20 March 2023, after the change of the ruling coalition. He had secured 172 votes at the HoR.
After the change of alliance again on 4 March, the then-ruling partner Nepali Congress withdrew support and is now in opposition. CPN (UML), CPN (Maoist Centre), Rastriya Swatantra Party, Janata Samajwadi Party and CPN (Unified Socialist) have formed a new alliance. Prime Minister Dahal, who has the support of the new alliance, took a vote of confidence for the third time in the House of Representatives today.
There are 275 members in the HoR of Nepal. The prime minister needed 138 votes to trust him, and Prachanda received 157 votes. In the HoR, UML has 78 lawmakers, Maoist Centre 32, Rastriya Swatantra Party 21, Janata Samajbadi Party Nepal 12 and Unified Socialist 10.
By: Sweta Singh, Kathmandu
