Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal on Monday secured a vote of confidence in the House of Representatives.

Dahal received 172 votes in the 275-member parliament in the second floor test since being appointed the prime minister on December 25.

In today's proceedings, 89 lawmakers voted against the motion while Prem Suwal, the lone lawmaker from the Nepal Majdoor Kisan Party stayed neutral. A total of 262 lawmakers were present in today’s meeting. The prime minister required at least 138 votes to win the trust motion.

Dahal, who became prime minister after breaking the electoral alliance with Nepali Congress and forging a new coalition with the CPN-UML, had gone for the floor test for the first time on January 10. He had received 268 votes then.

Dahal had to take a vote of confidence from the Parliament for the second time in three months after he broke away from the erstwhile ruling coalition that was forged during the formation of the government and the House Speaker election, and entered into a different equation in the presidential election.

Prime Minister Dahal, who is also the chairman of CPN (Maoist Centre), received a vote of confidence from the Nepali Congress, Rastriya Swatantra Party, Janata Samajbadi Party, CPN (Unieief Socialist), Janamat Party, Loktantrik Samajbadi Party, Nagarik Unmukti Party, three independent lawmkaers and the Rastriya Janamorcha.

The former coalition partners of the Dahal-led government–the UML and Rastriya Prajatantra Party–voted against Dahal during today’s proceedings.