Nepali Congress President Sher Bahadur Deuba has been elected the 40th Prime Minister of Nepal on Tuesday.
In a voting conducted at the Legislature-Parliament today, the proposal to elect Deuba as the new prime minister muster 388 votes in its support while 170 votes were cast against the proposal. A total of 297 votes (fifty-plus percent) were required for Deuba to be elected the PM from the existing 593-strong Parliament.
Lawmakers of CPN-UML, CPN-ML, Nepal Workers and Peasants Party and Nepal Pariwar Dal, among other parties had cast votes against the Nepali Congress leader.
Though Deuba was the only contender for the executive post of the nation, he had to go through the voting as the constitution requires that Prime Minister has to prove support of the majority of lawmakers in the House.
Outgoing Prime Minister and Chairman of CPN (Maoist Centre) Pushpa Kamal Dahal proposed Deuba’s candidacy and senior NC leader Ram Chandra Poudel seconded the proposal at the Parliament Secretariat.
It is the fourth stint of Deuba as Prime Minister as he had already led the government from 1995 to 1997, from 2001 to 2002, and from 2004 to 2005 in the past.
Apart from his party Nepali Congress, Deuba was backed by CPN (Maoist Centre), Rastriya Prajatantra Party (RPP), Rastriya Janata Party Nepal (RJPN) and Sanghiya Samajbadi Forum, among others parties.
Earlier the election for the post of PM scheduled for Sunday was put off for today after the main opposition CPN-UML warned of obstructing the House in protest against the Election Commission (EC)’s decision to conduct re-election in Bhatratpur Metropolitan City Ward-19 where the CPN (Maoist Centre) representatives tore ballot papers.
Addressing the Parliament meeting before the voting, the NC leader said that tearing of ballot papers during vote counting is not a new thing in Nepal’s history.
On a different note, he said that the impeachment motion registered against Chief Justice Sushila Karki has already been withdrawn.
The motion could have already been withdrawn had the main opposition CPN-UML allowed the House to function, he said.
He went on to say that the three tier of elections—local level, provincial assembly and federal parliament—were essential to lead the country towards the path of prosperity.
Leader Deuba said that nationality, democracy and socialism are the key ideology of his party. His party cannot make any compromises on these things, he added.
The NC President, during his address, thanked Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal for holding the first phase of local level elections successfully despite adverse situations.
“We want to hold the second phase of local level elections slated for June 28 in a free and fair manner,” Deuba said.
The next meeting of the Parliament has been scheduled for June 8.
Who is Sher Bahadur Deuba?
Born on June 13, 1946 in Asigram-3 of Dhadeldhura, Nepali Congress President Sher Bahadur Deuba had been elected a member of the Parliament three times representing Dhadeldhura district.
He was declared the Parliamentary Party leader of Nepali Congress in 1994.
After the resignation of Girija Prasad Koirala in 2001, he defeated Sushil Koirala by a huge margin to be elected as the Parliamentary Party leader for Nepali Congress.
He, however, lost the election for the post of Parliamentary Party leader of the Nepali Congress to Ram Chandra Paudel in 2009.
Nepali Congress nominated Deuba as its candidate for Dadeldhura and Kanchanpur-4 constituencies under the first-past-the-post category during the Constituent Assembly election held on April 10, 2008. He won both the constituencies.
During the election for the post of Prime Minister held on August 15, 2008, Deuba was defeated by CPN (Maoist Centre) Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal.
He was sentenced to two years in prison in July 2005 under corruption charges, but was subsequently released on February 13, 2006.
Source: The Kathmandupost