KATHMANDU, JANUARY 2

Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal will take the vote of confidence in the House of Representatives on January 10, a day after the new House of Representatives meets for its first session.

Spokesperson for the Parliament Secretariat Rojnath Pandey said the HoR regulations will be finalised on January 9 during the first meeting of the House. They will govern the process of the vote of confidence.

Normally on the day the PM takes trust vote, lawmakers express their vote by putting their signatures, Pandey said. There are three registers for lawmakers of which one is for supporting the PM, another for voting against the PM, and the third for staying neutral, he added.

The constitution mandates the newly-appointed PM to take a trust vote within 30 days. Dahal, who heads the seven-party alliance, including the CPN-UML, was appointed the PM on December 26. Dahal, who took the oath of office and secrecy on December 26, has written to the Parliament Secretariat urging it to include the agenda of the vote of confidence in the House's business schedule on January 10.

Dahal became the PM under Article 76 (2) of the constitution with the support of seven parties commanding 166 members in the HoR and three independent lawmakers. Article 76 (2) has the provision for the formation of a coalition government in case no party wins simple majority in the HoR. In the 275-member HoR, NC emerged as the largest party with 89 seats. The PM is likely to expand his eight-member Cabinet only after seeking the vote of confidence.

A version of this article appears in the print on January 3, 2023, of The Himalayan Times.