KATHMANDU: Prime Minister (PM) Pushpa Kamal Dahal Prachanda won a vote of confidence on Tuesday.

PM Dahal got 268  votes – exceeding the 136 required – with two votes against him.

Political parties, including Nepali Congress, CPN-UML, Maoist Center, Rastriya Swatantra Party, Rastriya Prajatantra Party, Janamat Party, Nagarik Unmukti Party, Unified Socialist, Loktantrik Samajwadi Party, Aam Janata Party and two independent candidates gave the vote of confidence to Prime Minister Dahal.

A total of 270 parliamentarians were present in today’s meeting.

Nepal Workers and Peasants Party and Rastriya Janamorcha Nepal did not give a vote of confidence to PM Dahal.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Dahal expressed his confidence to ensure good governance, cooperation and mutual trust during his tenure.

Seeking a vote of confidence at the House of Representatives (HoR) on Tuesday, PM Dahal said, “I stand to ask for a vote of confidence for social justice and good governance.”

“I will focus on good governance, social justice, and mutual cooperation,” he said.

PM Dahal clarified that he wanted to take forward the politics of consensus, cooperation and mutual trust rather than the politics of negation, disrespect and vengeance as the Prime Minister.

Stating that he was standing with self-realization and self-evaluation, he said that from the experience of two previous times during his time as the PM, there was no room for making any mistakes this time.

PM Dahal said this time he as the head of the government wished to give the world a message of national unity in Nepal and pledged to remain dedicated to his duties and responsibilities and give something new to the people.

He vowed to promote the rule of law by totally discouraging the practice of gaining unfair advantages on the basis of access and connection.

Dahal echoed the need of having a national consensus, concluding some of the remaining tasks of the peace process and garnering a development budget worth Rs 6,000 billion.

Claiming that projects like Mid-hill Highway, South-North Corridor and efforts in the development of the energy sector which were introduced during his previous premiership had contributed to advancing the development pace in the nation, he promised citizenship to all the eligible people by the next six months.

He also vowed to issue the national identity card within a year, policy-level reforms in the economic sector, improvement in the judiciary, prevention of corruption, formulation of new acts aiming to improve civil administration service delivery system and necessary revisions in the existing laws.

The Prime Minister said he was confident that the government would be able to address mismanagement issues in the development sector and accelerate the development endeavors during his term.