Modi congratulates Deuba on winning confidence vote

Kathmandu, July 19 Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi congratulated his Nepal counterpart, Sher Bahadur Deuba on Sunday evening, minutes after he secured the vote of confidence in the House of Representatives.

"Congratulations Prime Minister @DeubaSherbdr and best wishes for a successful tenure.

"I look forward to working with you to further enhance our enhance our unique partnership in all sectors, and strengthen our deep-rooted people to people ties," Modi tweeted.

Earlier, Indian Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Indian Ambassador to Nepal, Vinay Mohan Kwatra, and BJP Foreign Affairs Department chief, Vijaya Chauthaiwale congratulated Deuba in person and on telephone.

Deuba, who was appointed as the Prime Minister as per Article 76(5) of the Constitution on Tuesday following the Supreme Court's ruling, secured a total of 165 votes, as against the 138 needed.

A total of 249 lawmakers were present in the 271-member lower house on Sunday. Of them, 165, including some from his predecessor K.P. Sharma Oli's CPN-UML, voted in favour of Deuba, while 83 lawmakers voted against and one abstained, as per Speaker Agni Sapkota.