PM Prachanda gets confidence vote

By Ranju Kafle,Kathmandu, Jan.11: Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’ on Tuesday garnered the vote of confidence in the House of Representatives by winning the trust of all but two House members.  

Of the 275 members of the House of Representatives (HoR), 268 gave him the votes while only two lawmakers voted against him. 

Only Chitra Bahadur KC of Rastriya Janamorcha and Prem Suwal of Nepal Majdoor Kisan Party cast their vote against the proposal of the Prime Minister in the House on Tuesday.

Three lawmakers -- Manorama Serchan, Kishor Singh Rathaur and Ambika Basnet -- remained absent during the voting. 

MP Tek Bahadur Gurung was suspended from his post. Eldest member Pashupati Shamsher JBR, who chaired the House on Tuesday, did not cast his vote as the legal provision restricts him from voting. None of the MPs remained neutral during the process. A total of 271 MPs were present in the House on Tuesday.

Apart from the parties of ruling alliance and independent MPs supporting the government, the Nepali Congress, CPN (Unified Socialist) and Loktantrik Samajbadi Party also voted in favour of the confidence motion.

After the voting, Pashupati Shamsher JBR, the chair of the House, declared that the motion of the vote of confidence tabled by Prime Minister Prachanda was endorsed with the majority votes.

Earlier, Prime Minister Prachanda had addressed the House session seeking vote of confidence. 

President Bidya Devi Bhandari had appointed Prachanda as the Prime Minister of the country on December 25 after November 20 elections. He had showed the support of 169 members of the House for the post. As per the constitutional provision, a prime minister appointed under Article 76(2) needs to secure a vote of confidence from the parliament within 30 days of the appointment.

Meanwhile, leaders of the various parties in the ruling alliance and opposition addressed the House session on Tuesday. CPN-UML chairman KP Sharma Oli suspected that NC’s support for the government might be a trap but said no fish would fall in it. He also defended the dissolution of the House two years ago. 

Unified Socialist party chairman Madhav Kumar Nepal said that the root of corruption was the lack of political will. He, however, asserted that the House dissolution was against the Constitution.