UCPN (Maoist) Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal got 259 votes out of the 581 votes cast while 114 votes were cast against him. The number of parliamentarians who voted to stay neutral in his round was 208. [break]
Nepali Congress (NC) leader Ram Chandra Poudel secured 124 out of the 556 votes cast in his round. Of the total, 246 members voted against and 186 cast neutral votes.
The CPN-UML decided to stay neutral while some lawmakers of the Upendra Yadav-led Madhesi People´s Rights Forum decided to vote in favor of Dahal.
The prime ministerial candidates need to garner 300 votes of the 599 active members of the 601-seat parliament to garner a simple majority.
Related story
Garner graces cover of People’s annual ‘Beautiful Issue’
