Newly-elected Prime Minister KP Oli. Photo: RSS

CPN (UML) Chair KP Oli has become Nepal's new Prime Minister, defeating NC President Suhil Koirala in a vote in Parliament on Sunday.

Oli, leader of the second largest party, won the country's top executive post with the support from the third and fourth largest parties – the UCPN (M) and the RPP-N.

Despite support from some fringe parties, Koirala could not retain his post. He had stepped down on Saturday just before registering his candidacy against Oli.

Oli secured 338 votes as against Koirala's 249 votes.

Oli already had 291 members of Parliament in his favour. He consolidated his position by bringing Bijaya Kumar Gachhadar's MJF (D) into his fold. In last minute negotiations, Gachhadar decided to back Oli following an eight-point agreement with the UML and the UCPN (M).

Gachhadar was one of the signatories to the 16-point deal, the blueprint for the recently-adopted constitution. But he quit the four-party alliance after a protest by indigenous Tharus, a community he belongs, led to the deaths of eight policemen and one child in Kailali district in the last week of August.

NC, UML and UCPN (M) had tried till last minute to bring Gachhadar on board before adopting the new constitution. But negotiations failed after ruling party leaders, particularly Oli, did not want to mention anything about Madhes and Tharuhat movement in the constitution.

However, Oli on Saturday acknowledged Madhes and Tharuhat protests as political issues and promised to address them by amending the constitution to win Gachhadar's support.

Oli, a veteran communist leader, had started his political career with a bloody revolution in Nepal's far-eastern plains in the 1960s. Inspired by India's Naxalite movement, he joined other radical communists and beheaded some landlords dubbing them as 'class enemy'.

He fought against the party-less Panchayat system and spent 14 years in jail from 1973 and 1987.

Of late, he was portrayed as an illiberal and anti-Madhesis. He on Saturday said he was aware of his distorted image and promised to correct it by his 'actions'.

"I will go all out to address all genuine demands of Madhesis, Tharus, Janajatis and excluded communities," he said. "I will show what I am by my actions, those who will vote for him will not have to regret."

He said: "I am not trying to become Prime Minister just to hang my photo in Singha Darbar, my candidacy is to safeguard our nationality and lift the earthquake-devastated country from ruins."