Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba on Sunday won the vote of confidence in the House of Representatives.

Deuba received 165 votes in the 271-member strong lower house. He needed 136 votes to win the House confidence, as four lawmakers remain suspended. 

Only 249 lawmakers, however, were present during Sunday’s House.

As many as 83 lawmakers voted against and one remained neutral.

“I hereby declare that the motion of the vote of confidence tabled by Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba has been endorsed with a majority,” said Speaker Agni Sapkota.

The proposal for the vote of trust was registered in the Parliament Secretariat on Sunday, the very first day of the session of the House after it was reinstated by the Supreme Court on July 12.

With Deuba winning the vote of confidence, he is set to remain prime minister for a year and a half, until periodic elections are held.

The Nepali Congress president was appointed prime minister on July 13 as per the Supreme Court order a day before to that effect to the Office of the President.

The Supreme Court on July 12 overturned then prime minister KP Sharma Oli’s May 21 House dissolution and ordered Deuba’s appointment as prime minister under Article 76 (5) of the Constitution of Nepal.

President Bidya Devi Bhandari on Thursday summoned the session of the restored House for 4pm Sunday. As per the constitutional provisions, Deuba needed to secure a vote of confidence in the House within 30 days from his appointment–by August 12. But Deuba decided to seek the vote of confidence on the very first day of the House session.

As many as 23 lawmakers from the Nepal faction had supported Deuba’s petition at the Supreme Court demanding his appointment as prime minister and restoration of the House. One lawmaker from the Nepal faction, Bhim Rawal, however, resigned on Sunday afternoon, hours before Deuba went for a floor test.

Oli had dissolved the House for the second time on May 21 after President Bhandari rejected his and Deuba’s claims for the post of prime minister.

Deuba had presented the signatures of 149 lawmakers, including 28 from the Nepal faction, laying claim to the government under Article 76 (5).

But Oli, who was appointed prime minister on May 13, days after he lost a vote of confidence, also presented his claim, saying he had the support of 153 lawmakers.

Oli’s House dissolution on the night of May 21, which was endorsed by Bhandari at around 1:38am, however, was challenged in the court.

After Deuba’s appointment as prime minister on July 13, Oli left Baluwatar a day later. Oli was appointed prime minister in February 2018 after his party UML won 121 seats in the lower house with the support of the Maoist Centre. The two communist parties had merged in May 2018 to form the Nepal Communist Party (NCP).

But months after Oli’s December 20 House dissolution was restored, the Supreme Court on March 7 had invalidated the Nepal Communist Party (NCP) and revived the UML and the Maoist Centre. The Maoist Centre thereafter formed an alliance with the Nepali Congress, while the Nepal faction was struggling against Oli within the party.