Of the 594 members in the Constituent Assembly, which constitutes the electoral college, Yadav secured 308 votes against Singh’s 282.

The Rastriya Prajatantra Party-Nepal (RPP-N), considered a pro-monarchy party, abstained from the voting. But the Communist Party of Nepal-Maoists (CPN-M), which till recently was keen to form the Government under the new leadership, is rethinking its course of action after Monday’s defeat.

“We must sit in the Opposition instead of succumbing to blackmail by the unholy alliance of the three groups,” Mohan Baidya, a key ideologue of the party said.

Yadav, general secretary of the Nepali Congress, was backed by an alliance of the three parties — Nepali Congress, Communist Party of Nepal-Unified Marxist Leninist (UML) and the Madheshi Janadhikar Forum (MJF) — with a combined strength of 272. They said the alliance was for a limited purpose of electing the President and clearly aimed at defeating Maoists’ design of taking over all key posts.

Apart from the alliance, Yadav also got votes from smaller parties and other left groups. Singh, on the other hand, got 56 extra votes over and above the maoist strength of 226 . The parties supporting him among others included Terai Madhesh Loktantrik Party (TMLP) and Nepal Sadbhavana Party (NSP), often seen as a pro-India party.

The first round of polls had been conducted on July 19, but no candidate could secure the 298-magic mark, more than 50 per cent of the effective strength of the House.

The Maoists were initially keen to offer the posts of President and the Speaker of the Constituent Assembly to the other two major parties — the Nepali Congress and the UML. Then the party insisted it must have the President’s post along with that of the Prime Minister or ‘parallel power centres’ would make transition and constitution-drafting a difficult process.

At one point, it negotiated the offer with the two parties, but its rigid stand — Congress or the UML should not field their top leaders G P Koirala or Madhav Nepal — derailed the whole negotiation.