Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’ has secured a vote of confidence in the House of Representatives (HoR) for the third time. The proposal that the Prime Minister presented in the meeting of the HoR today, seeking the vote of confidence, obtained 157 votes in its favor, while 110 votes went against it when the proposal was put to a voice vote for a decision.

Two hundred and sixty-eight lawmakers were present in the meeting, and seven were absent. One hundred and thirty-eight votes are required for the vote of confidence in the 275-member House of Representatives. Announcing the results of the voice vote on the proposal, Speaker Devraj Ghimire said that 157 votes were in support of the proposal.

He declared on the occasion that the proposal the Prime Minister presented in the House of Representatives, seeking a vote of confidence, has been passed by a majority since the number of votes in favor of the proposal comprised a majority of the total number of members present in the HoR at the time. Lawmakers from the parties in the ruling alliance, namely the CPN (UML), the CPN (Maoist Centre), the Rastriya Swatantra Party, the Janata Samajbadi Party Nepal, the CPN (Unified Socialist), and the Nagarik Unmukti Party, gave the vote of confidence to PM Dahal.

The PM sought a vote of confidence from the parliament again today after he changed the governing coalition on March 4, and as a consequence, the Nepali Congress, which had been supporting that coalition, withdrew its support. Also, the Maoist Center Chair, Dahal, was elected Prime Minister on December 25, 2022. He took a vote of confidence for the first time on January 10, 2023.

That time, he had secured the vote of confidence of most parties representing in the House of Representatives and the lawmakers, including those of the CPN (UML), the CPN (Maoist Centre), the Rastriya Swatantra Party, the Rastriya Prajatantra Party, the Janata Samajbadi Party Nepal, the Janamat Party, and the Nagarik Unmukti Party, among others. Out of 270 lawmakers who participated in the voting, 268 gave votes of confidence to PM Dahal. This was the highest number of votes that he secured in Nepal’s history at that time.

The Nepali Congress, the CPN (Unified Socialist), among all parties, had voted for him at that time. Prime Minister Dahal took a vote of confidence on March 20, 2023, for the second time with the change in the then ruling alliance in the course of the election for the post of president. He had to seek a vote of confidence a second time after the UML, the Rastriya Swatantra Party, and the Rastriya Prajatantra Party withdrew their support for the government.

That time, he secured 172 votes, while 89 votes were against the motion seeking the vote of confidence.