Third round of Nepal prime ministerial election today

Kathmandu, Aug 2 (ANI): Nepal Parliament will conduct a third runoff election for the post of prime minister today after previous two elections failed to elect a prime minister.

UCPN (Maoist) Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal alias Prachanda and Nepali Congress Parliamentary Party Leader Ram Chandra Poudel are vying for the most sought re-election today.

The Parliament decided to hold the re-election after both Prachanda and Poudel failed to muster the simple majority in the second-runoff election.

On the second-runoff, Prachanda secured 242 votes including 237 votes from his party. 114 votes were cast in opposition while 226 lawmakers went for 'no vote'. The five additional votes came from the Rastriya Janamukti Party, the Nepa Rastriya Party and the Nepali Janata Dal.

Similarly, out of the total 592 votes cast, Poudel bagged 124 votes, 114 from his party and 10 votes from the Rastriya Prajatantra Party and the Rastriya Janashakti Party. Likewise, 228 votes were counted as 'no vote'.

Meanwhile, the CPN (UML), four Madhesi parties and some fringe parties will remain neutral because it hopes for a "Prime Minister by consensus".

If the two groups maintain their posture, only 409 members will cast their votes in favour or against the two candidates.

In such a situation, no candidate will be able to secure a minimum of 300 votes required to win the race.

Meanwhile, Speaker Subash Chandra Nemwang has called a meeting of the legislature parliament's Business Advisory Committee (BAC) at 3 pm to discuss strategy if today's election also fails to elect a prime minister, Nepalnews reported. (ANI)