Maoist leader Baburam Bhattarai elected Nepal's new prime minister

Maoist leader Dr Baburam Bhattarai was today elected Nepal's new prime minister defeating his Nepali Congress rival RC Poudyal, with the Terai-based Madhesi alliance extending crucial support to the former rebel leader.

Bhattarai, 57,  who has a PhD from New Delhi's Jawaharlal Nehru University, polled 340 votes, while Nepali Congress Parliamentary Party leader Poudyal could secure 235 votes.

The United Democratic Madhesi Front (UDMF), the alliance of Madhesi parties that has emerged as the fourth largest political force in the assembly, decided to support Bhattarai.

Most of the smaller fringe parties and the alliance of Madhesi parties supported Bhattarai, who was elected from the Constituency No. 2 of Gorkha with a landslide victory in 2008.

Bhattarai was the deputy prime minister and finance minister in the government led by Maoist Chairman Prachanda in 2008.

No party holds a majority in the constituent assembly, which acts as the country's interim parliament. The UCPN-Maoist, which has 236 seats in the constituent assembly, is the largest party in the house. The second largest Nepali Congress, the main opposition, has 114 members followed by CPN-UML, which has 107 members.

Caretaker Prime Minister Jhal Nath Khanal, who was elected after 17 rounds of polls in Parliament over a period of seven months on February 3, resigned on August 14 for failing to make "concrete" process in the peace process.