Nepal: Sher Bahadur Deuba elected as leader of Nepali Congress parliamentary party

Nepal Prime Minister and Nepali Congress President Sher Bahadur Deuba has won the Parliamentary Party (PP) leader election on December 21, the Nepal Election Committee announced. The election was conducted earlier today.

Earlier in the day, Deuba, who is also the President of Nepali Congress, cast his vote.  Nepali Congress General Secretary Gagan Kumar Thapa was pitted against Sher Bahadur Deuba.

The election for the leader of the parliamentary party was held to choose the parliamentary leader before the oath-taking ceremony of newly elected members of the House of Representatives (HoR) in the general election.

Nepal President Bidhya Devi Bhandari has called on House members to form the government by December 25.

Deuba’s name was proposed by Congress senior leader and former House speaker Ram Chandra Poudel and Purna Bahadur Khadka. Whereas Thapa’s name was proposed by Shekhar Koirala and seconded by party vice president Dhanraj Gurung, general secretary Bishwa Prakash Sharma and leader Pradeep Poudel.

89 lawmakers, elected to the House of Representatives by the Nepali Congress, cast their votes to elect the parliamentary party leader. The candidates needed at least 45 votes to secure the post. The Nepal PM secured 76 votes, while Thapa got 45 votes.

Other Opposition parties have unanimously elected their Parliamentary Party leader

The parliamentary leaders of the opposition CPN-UML (Communist Party of Nepal-Unified Marxist Leninist) and CPN-Maoist Center have been chosen unchallenged. The opposition CPN-UML, which split into two factions a year and a half before the general election, had already nominated former Prime Minister and Party Chairman KP Sharma Oli to lead the party in Parliament. Meanwhile, Pushpa Kamal Dahal has been appointed as the party's leader by the CPN-Maoist Center without any opposition or challenge.

In order to put a stop to political instability in Nepal, elections to the HoR and seven provincial assemblies were held.

The Nepali Congress had emerged as the single-largest party in the country’s general elections held on November 20.