04 June, 2017
President of the Nepali Congress party Sher Bahadur Deuba was the sole candidate to run for the election of prime minister, the Parliament Secretariat said on Saturday. As per the schedule of the Parliament Secretariat, the period of filling the nominations will be from 11 am to 4pm on Saturday and the list vying candidates will be published at around 4.30 pm the same day.
Pushpa Kamal Dahal, head of the caretaker government, is the proposer while NC senior leader Ram Chandra Poudel, Loktantrik Forum's Bijaya Kumar Gachhadar, among others, are the other supporters for Deuba's nomination, reports the Kathmandu Post.
Deuba needs to secure 297 votes in the 593-strong Parliament to prove his majority during Sunday's election, and with the NC-Maoist Centre alliance enjoying 287 seats in Parliament and four other parties supporting the alliance having 21 seats, it looks plain sailing for Deuba. His Nepali Congress party holds 207 seats while the CPN (Maoist Centre) has 82 seats. He served as Prime Minister from 1995 to 1997, from 2001 to 2002, and from 2004 to 2005.
The new prime ministerial election in the Himalayan nation comes after Prachanda stepped down on May 24 in keeping with the accord on rotational prime ministership his party had with the Nepali Congress.
As the political parties have failed to come up with a consensus name for the post of Prime Minister, President Bidya Devi Bhandari has called the parties to elect a new prime minister through majority voting. Find us on Facebook too!
