A meeting of the parliamentary Business Advisory Committee (BAC) decided to hold next round of voting on October 6 as the lone candidate in the prime minister race Ram Chandra Paudel secured only 105 votes during the Thursday´s voting. [break]Of the total 168 members in parliament taking part in the voting process, 61 stayed neutral and two voted against Poudel.
The UCPN (Maoist), CPN-UML and Madhesi People´s Rights Forum (MPRF) did not take part in the voting process. While the Maoists have 237 seats in parliament, UML and the MPRF have 109 and 25 seats, respectively. Some lawmakers of NC itself were absent in the voting, knowing already that the voting would not be decisive one to pick a new prime minister.
The BAC decided to hold next round of voting after six days despite request from Nepali Congress and 12 other ruling parties to postpone it by at least a month to forge consensus. NC has said that it will not withdraw its prime ministerial candidacy without reaching a package deal on peace process and constitution drafting and leadership of new government.
Earlier, NC had held a meeting with ruling 12 parties to discuss the future strategy on the prime ministerial election. The fringe parties had suggested NC not withdraw its candidacy before reaching a package deal on peace, constitution and new government.
During the BAC meeting, Maoists had asked the speaker to use his prerogative to end current process to elect prime minister and start afresh the process -- something NC vehemently opposed.
"Why hold the next election only after Dashain. We should reach a conclusion at the earliest," he said. "If he is not willing to fulfill his duty and exercise his prerogative, he should conduct the election every day," UCPN (Maoist) Vice Chairman Narayankaji Shrestha said.
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