Deuba only candidate running for Nepal PM office

Kathmandu, June 4 (IANS) Nepali Congress President Sher Bahadur Deuba was the sole candidate to run for the office of the Prime Minister, Parliament Secretariat has said.

Any member of Parliament willing to contest the election was asked to register his or her candidacy for the Prime Minister's Office at the Parliament Secretariat, Xinhua news agency reported.

As the deadline expired on Saturday, Deuba was the only member to have filed his nomination.

Earlier in the day, Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist Centre) Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal proposed Deuba for the post of the Prime Minister, while Nepali Congress senior leader Ram Chandra Poudel and leaders from other four political parties backed Deuba.

Media reports said Deuba was set to become the Prime Minister with majority votes in the house this week.

Deuba needs 297 votes in the 593-member Parliament to win. His Nepali Congress party holds 207 seats while the CPN (Maoist Centre) has 82 seats.

Some other small parties have also thrown their weight behind Deuba's candidacy.

Deuba, 70, served as the Prime Minister from 1995 to 1997, from 2001 to 2002, and from 2004 to 2005.

Nepal decided to form a new government on the basis of majority votes as per the call by President Bidya Devi Bhandari following the failure of major parties to form a consensus government.

The new prime ministerial election in the Himalayan nation comes after Prachanda stepped down on May 24 in keeping with the accord on rotational prime ministership his party had with the Nepali Congress.