In Nepal, the seventh round of voting will be held on the 7th of this month after the sixth round of polling failed to elect a new Prime Minister on Sunday. Maoist Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal Prachanda secured 240 votes, while his rival Nepali Congress parliamentary party leader Ram Chandra Poudel got 122 votes, short of simple majority of 300 votes required to get elected.

Madhesh Janadhikar Forum – one of the four major Tarai parties boycotted the voting process on Sunday expressing dissatisfaction over its alliance partner’s decision to remain neutral. The party said, its move is aimed at pressurizing CPN(UML) and others not to remain neutral any longer, but to participate in the voting process to break the current political deadlock.

AIR Kathmandu Correspondent reports that the continuing failure in electing a new Prime Minister more than two months after resignation of Mr. Madhav Kumar Nepal has led to political instability and further delayed the peace process and drafting of the new constitution.

A few hours before Sunday’s voting, Madhesi Janaadhikar Forum-Nepal(MJF) led by Upendra Yadav broke ranks with the broader United Democratic Madhesi Front – comprising of four Tarai based parties on its decision to continue remaining neutral in the voting process and decided to take an independent stand.

The parliamentary party meeting of the MJF decided to boycott the vote and walked out of Parliament. This move had however not affected election result.

CPN(UML) and the other three Tarai parties – Madhesi Janaadhikar Forum (Loktantrik), Tarai Madhes Democratic Party and Sadbhavana remained neutral once again in Sunday’s voting.

The failure to elect a new Prime Minister was mainly due to abstention of UML and four Tarai based parties from the voting process.