A total of 169 lawmakers from various political parties supported Chairman of the CPN (Maoist Centre) Pushpa Kamal Dahal 'Prachanda' in a prime ministerial bid this evening. With the signatures of the 169 lawmakers, Chairman Dahal reached the President office and claimed the post of prime minister.

Chairman Dahal made the claim before President Bidya Devi Bhandari before the expiry of time given for making the claim on Sunday itself. Also the parliamentary party leader of the Maoist Centre, Dahal made claim as per Article 76 (2) of the Constitution of Nepal.

Those to extend support to Dahal's prime ministerial bid are UML (78), his party (32), Rastriya Swatantra Party (20), Rastriya Prajatantra Party (14), Janata Samajbadi Party (12), Janamat Party (6), Nagarik Unmukti Party (4) and three independent lawmakers.

The letter offering support to leader Dahal bears the signatures of UML parliamentary party leader KP Sharma Oli, of Dahal himself, Swatantra Party's Chairman Rabi Lamichhane, RPP's Chairman Rajendra Lingden, Chairman of Janata Samajbadi Party, Upendra Yadav; parliamentary party leader of Janamat Party, Chandrakant Raut; parliamentary party leader of Nagarik Unmukti Party, Ranjita Shrestha and three independent lawmakers- Prabhu Saha, Kiran Saha, and Dr Amaresh Kumar Singh. (RSS)