Nepal's lawmakers on Monday rejected Maoist chief Prachanda and his NC rival Ram Chandra Poudyal for the fifth time in the Prime Ministerial elections, plunging the country into a deeper political crisis in the absence of a government.
Fifty-five-year-old Prachanda, a former Prime Minister, managed to bag only 246 votes, with 111 members opposing his candidature.
Poudyal, 65, also failed to touch the magic figure of 301, receiving just 124 votes in favour and 243 against, forcing the House to fix another round of voting for September 5.
Out of the total 563 lawmakers who participated in the voting, 206 members, mostly from CPN-UML and Madhesi parties, remained neutral.
During the fourth round of voting on August 6, Prachanda had secured 213 votes while Poudyal got 122.
The CPN-UML with the strength of 109 and the Madhesi alliance with the combine strength of 84 and other smaller parties had earlier decided to remain neutral.
After the voting, caretaker Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal said political parties now should forge a consensus based upon the proposal his party floated on Saturday.
Since a consensus appears nowhere in the sight, parties now should give a thought to the UML's primary draft proposal to build a national consensus and complete the pending task of peace and constitution,
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