Nepal PM Prachanda set to seek his third vote of confidence since assuming office in 2022

Nepal Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’ on Wednesday will seek a vote of confidence in Parliament, days after he forged a new alliance with the Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist-Leninist) after breaking off with Nepali Congress.

Prachanda, a former guerilla leader belonging to the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist Centre) on Sunday, sent a letter to the Parliament Secretariat, indicating that he has severed ties with the Nepali Congress.

Prachanda, whose party is the third largest party in the House of Representatives (HoR), recently restructured his Cabinet after breaking alliance with the Himalayan nation’s largest party, Nepali Congress and joined hands with CPN-UML.

According to constitutional provisions, a prime minister has to take a vote of confidence after an ally withdraws support to the ruling coalition. 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, reported PTI.

Prachanda has now forged a new alliance with former prime minister K P Oli-led CPN-UML who was regarded as a top critic of the Maoist leader.

The new government needs a minimum of 138 votes in the 275-member House of Representatives to secure the vote of confidence. 

Wednesday's vote will be the third time Prachanda is seeking a vote of confidence in the House since he assumed office less than one-and-a-half-year ago in December 2022. He became the prime minister for the third term on December 25, 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, the report said.

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 asked all of its members of the HoR to be present in the lower house on March 13.

Last year, the Oli-led 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.