Nepal: Nepal care taker Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba has been elected as leader of parliamentary party today. This has been announced by the Nepali Congress Election Committee on Wednesday. On Wednesday morning, ruling Nepali Congress President Sher Bahadur Deuba and its General Secretary Gagan Thapa cast their votes for the party parliamentary leader election.
The Nepali Congress had emerged as the single-largest party in the country's general elections held on November 20. It has held elections to choose its parliamentary leader before the oath-taking ceremony of newly elected members of the House of Representatives (HoR) in the general election.
The country's President Bidhya Devi Bhandari has called on House members to form the government by December 25. Nepali Congress President Sher Bahadur Deuba and General Secretary Gagan Thapa had also filed their candidacy for the post of parliamentary party leader. Deuba has been proposed for the post by Congress senior leader and former House speaker Ram Chandra Poudel while Purna Bahadur Khadka seconded the proposal.
Thapa has been proposed by Shekhar Koirala and seconded by party vice president Dhanraj Gurung, general secretary Bishwa Prakash Sharma and leader Pradeep Poudel.
The 89 Nepali Congress lawmakers elected to the House were eligible to vote in the election for the post of parliamentary party leader. A candidate needs at least 45 votes to secure the post. According to the Nepali Congress party's statute, if more than one candidate aspires to become the parliamentary party leader, it will be decided through an election process.
Other Opposition parties in Nepal have all elected their Parliamentary Party leaders unanimously. The opposition CPN-UML (Communist Party of Nepal- Unified Marxist Leninist) and the CPN-Maoist Center parliamentary leaders have been selected unchallenged. The opposition CPN-UML which broke into two factions a year and a half before the general election already presented the Party chairman and erstwhile Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli as its parliamentary party leader. Meanwhile, CPN-Maoist Center has chosen Pushpa Kamal Dahal as an unopposed or unchallenged party leader.
