Prachanda to seek Vote of confidence on Wednesday

Prime Minister Pushpakamal Dahal “Prachanda” is set to seek vote of confidence from the House of Representatives for the third time in less than one and a half year. Prachanda on Sunday sent a letter to the Parliament Secretariat to this effect. It requires at least 138 votes in the 275 member House for the government to endorse the vote of trust.

The Prachanda led coalition government currently enjoys the support of 150 members of the HoR. The second largest party, CPN-UML has 76 seats while the third largest party CPN-Maoist Centre has 32 seats. Similarly, Rastriya Swotantra Party, Janata Samajwadi Party and CPN-Unified Socialist have 20, 12 and 10 seats respectively. Out of a total of 78 Lawmakers one of the members of HoR from the UML has passed away and another one has been suspended. Prachanda is required to prove his majority in the Parliament as per the constitutional provision after he lost the support from previous ally Nepali Congress, which is the largest party in the House of Representatives.

The Maoist Centre has issued a whip to all of its members of the HoR to be present in the Lower House on March 13.

Mean while, Nepali Congress party has asked its members of the HoR to vote against Prachanda government.