Nepali Congress President Sher Bahadur Deuba was sworn in as the 40^th Prime Minister of Nepal on Wednesday. He has formed his Cabinet by inducting seven ministers including three Deputy Prime Ministers (DPMs).

President Bidya Devi Bhandari administered the oath of office and secrecy to newly elected Prime Minister Deuba amid a function at Sheetal Niwas in Kathmandu on Wednesday.

After taking the oath as new PM, Deuba administered oath to seven new ministers—three from Nepali Congress, three from CPN (Maoist Centre) and one from Nepal Loktantrik Forum. 

From Nepali Congress, Gopal Man Shrestha has been appointed as the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Education, Gyanendra Bahadur Karki and Farmullah Mansoor have been appointed as Minister for Finance and Minister for Labour and Employment respectively.

Meanwhile, Krishna Bahadur Mahara of CPN (Maoist Centre) has been appointed as Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs.

Similarly, CPN (MC) leader Janardan Sharma has been appointed as Minister for Home Affairs and Prabhu Sah has been appointed as minister without portfolio.

In the erstwhile Cabinet under Pushpa Kamal Dahal, Mahara was the DPM and Minister for Finance and Sharma was Minister for Energy.

Likewise, Nepal Loktantrik Forum Chairman Bijay Kumar Gachhadar has been appointed as Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Federal Affairs and Local Development.

Deuba, who is also the President of Nepali Congress, returned to power for the fourth time on Tuesday, 12 years after he was unceremoniously removed by then king Gyanendra Bir Bikram Shah, with 388 votes in his favour in the 593-strong Parliament.

As many as 558 lawmakers had cast votes during the prime ministerial election, with Deuba being the lone candidate, on Tuesday.

Dahal’s CPN (Maoist Centre), the Rastriya Prajatantra Party, Rastriya Janata Party-Nepal (RJP-N), Sanghiya Samajbadi Forum-Nepal, Nepal Loktantrik Forum and CPN (Samyukta), among other fringe parties, voted for Deuba.

Likewise, the RJP-N, which has 25 seats in Parliament, voted for Deuba after reaching a three-point deal as per which the new NC-Maoist Centre government has to address the agitating party’s demand of constitution amendment.