Nepal: trouble for Prachanda led ruling alliance as former PM Oli withdraws support 

Nepal's second largest party in Parliament - CPN-UML - on Monday withdrew its support to Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal "Prachanda"-led government following a rift over backing the main opposition party's candidate for the presidential poll, plunging the Himalayan nation to another spell of political instability.

The prime reason for the break-up of the alliance between Prachanda and former prime minister Oli was because the Maoist leader decided to support senior Nepali Congress (NC) candidate Ram Chandra Paudel for the President's post.

Paudel is from the Nepali Congress, an opposition party, and from outside the ruling alliance. Nepal's Presidential election will be held on March 9.

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The exit of CPN-UML may not immediately affect the Prachanda-led government, which is supported by the Nepali Congress (NC) which has 89 lawmakers in the House.

In the 275-member House, the UML has 79 lawmakers while CPN (Maoist Center) has 32. CPN (Unified Socialist) and Rashtriya Swatantra Party have 10 and 20 members, respectively. Janamat Party has 6 members, Loktantrik Samajbadi Party 4 and Nagarik Unmukti Party 3 members in the parliament.

With the three major parties, NC (89), CPN-Maoist Centre (32) and RSP (20), the government has support of at least 141 lawmakers.

Prachanda needs only 138 votes in parliament to continue as the prime minister.

According to constitutional experts, the prime minister must face a vote of confidence within 30 days.

(PTI)