UCPN-Maoist Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal (second from left) hugging newly elected Prime Minister Dr Baburam Bhattarai at the Parliament on Sunday, August 28, 2011. Bhattarai garnered 340 votes against Nepali Congress candidate Ram Chandra Paudel who scored 235 votes in the election today.

Paudel hopes new PM will carry out peace process in 1.5 months

 

KESHAV P. KOIRALA

KATHMANDU: A simple majority in the Legislature-Parliament was all it took on Sunday to usher in Dr. Baburam Bhattarai (57) of UCPN-Maoist into the game of musical chairs that the prime ministerial election in Nepal turned into.

In the elections held at the House this afternoon, Dr. Bhattarai garnered 340 votes, while his opponent Nepali Congress Parliamentary Party leader Ram Chandra Paudel secured 235 votes only. 575 lawmakers were present in the House today.

Announcing the results, Speaker Subas Chandra Nembang said that Dr. Bhattarai bagged the majority vote in the present 594-member House, which has 601 seats, to be elected as the new prime minister as per the constitutional provisions and the House regulations.

Talking to the media at his personal residence in Sanepa this evening, the prime minister-elect asked the Nepali Congress and CPN-UML to take part in his cabinet and help him turn it into national consensus government. He said he will work honestly and take part in the promulgation of new constitution and completion of peace process.

Lawmakers taking part in the House session that held the prime ministerial elections.

The United Democratic Madhesi Front, the alliance of Madhesi parties, and most of the fringe parties lent their support to Dr. Bhattarai in today's election.

The CPN-UML, Rastriya Prajantantra Party and Rastriya Janashakti Party, however, threw their strength behind the Nepali Congress candidate.

Rastriya Prajatantra Party-Nepal boycotted the House session today as the new House regulations do not allow the parliamentarians to stay neutral or cast neutral votes.

The Maoist party commands 236 seats, and the NC 113.

Swearing-in tomorrow

The prime minister-elect is expected to be sworn-in by tomrrow afternoon. President Dr. Ram Baran Yadav will adminster the oath of office and secrecy to Dr. Bhattarai amid a function at Sheetal Niwas before he assumes the office.

Elected in the Constituent Assembly from the Constituency No. 2 of Gorkha in April 2008 with a landslide victory, Dr. Bhattarai was the deputy prime Minister and finance minister in the government led by Maoist Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal. He is one of the vice chairmen of his party.

After the results were announced, Paudel congratulated Dr. Bhattarai for his election as the country's top executive through a democratic process.

He hoped that the new prime minister will be able to carry out the peace process in 1.5 months as promised by the Maoist party.

Dr. Bhattarai will serve as the 35th prime minister of the country and fourth of the republican Nepal.

Dr. Bhattarai waves to his supporters at the CA premises after being elected prime minister. Seen in the picture is his wife Hisila Yami, who also is a Maoist leader and parliamentarian.

Dr. Bhattarai's profile

Dr. Bhattarai was born to a middle class family of farmers—as the second child of Bhoj Prasad Bhattarai and his wife Dharma Kumari—in Khoplang of Gorkha in western Nepal on June 18, 1954.

He studied at a local school and topped the national-level School Leaving Certificate (SLC) examinations in 1970. He then came to the Capital Valley for his further studies.

After completing Intermediate in Science from Amrit Science College in Kathmandu, he won a scholarship to study architecture in Chandigarh of India under the Colombo Plan. He completed his Bachelors in Architecture (Hons.) from there in 1977.

In 1979, he got enrolled in the prestigious New Delhi-based School of Planning and Architecture for Masters in Town and Country Planning (Hons.) with specialisation in the urban and regional planning.

Bhattarai obtained his PhD degree in Regional Development Planning, from the world renowned Jawaharlal Nehru University, which is associated with some of the biggest names in contemporary India.

During his stay in India, he became active in political activities and came in contact with Nepali leaders like former Prime Minister B.P. Koirala, Tulsi Lal Amatya and Mohan Bikram Singh among others who were in exile. He was elected the founder president of All India Nepalese Students Association in 1977.

In 1981, he took the membership of the Communist Party of Nepal through Mohan Bikram Singh. Subsequently, he became active in organising migrant Nepali workers in India through All India Nepalese Unity Society (1979-1986).

He returned to Nepal in 1986 after completion of his formal education, and was active in the party activities against the Panchyat regime. He served as the president of the United People's Front from 1991 to 2001.

After his party, the then CPN-Maoist, launched an armed rebellion in 1996, he went undergrournd for the movement. He was the convener of the people’s government since 2001.

He was a member of the talks team that negotiated with government in 2003 to build peace.

His wife Hisila Yami is also a Maoist leader and was an influential minister in the outgoing Jhala Nath Khanal-led government. Their status in Nepal can be likened to ex-US president Bill Clinton and his wife, current US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton.