The UML party has 108 members and the Sadbhavana Party has three.

On Wednesday Maoist and UML activists staged a protest about that death.

The UML's withdrawal leaves the Maoists with a slender majority in a 601-member parliament.

Rest of the cabinet would be named after talks with allies, UML officials said.

The union is the student arm of the Communist UML party, Nepal's third largest group.

UML members and some other small allies stormed out of Sunday's cabinet meeting, government officials said.

The UML has named its former General Secretary Madhav Kumar Nepal to head the new government.

The Nepali Congress and the CPN-UML are wary they will be marginalised in a Maoist-led government, analysts say.

One candidate from the Communist UML party was killed in another incident in nearby Surkhet district, Dotel said.

UML has also been pressing for the formation of a unity government with the participation of all political parties.

A candidate from the Communist UML party was also killed in another incident in nearby Surkhet district, Dotel said.

Analysts said the Communist UML party, a key ally, was unhappy at the decision and could even quit the government.

The Maoists accused the main opposition Nepali Congress and the moderate Communist UML party of excluding them from talks on government formation.

The move has angered government allies, and the second biggest grouping in the coalition, the Communist UML party, said it was walking out.

The Maoists say they have the support of the Communist UML party and the Madheshi People's Rights Forum that jointly control another 160 votes.

But the opposition, led by the United Marxist Leninist (UML) party, had asked the king to make the move he made yesterday.