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Lumbini: Governor calls parties to claim chief ministership by 3 pm Thursday

Court forwards case against no-confidence motion to constitutional bench
File: Kul Prasad KC

Kathmandu, August 11

Following the resignation of Chief Minister Shankar Pokhrel, Lumbini Governor Amik Sherchan has called parties in the Provincial Assembly to claim chief ministership by securing the support of majority lawmakers, by 3 pm on Thursday.

The opposition parties including the Nepali Congress, CPN-Maoist Centre, and Janata Samajbadi Party are preparing to submit the name of Maoist Centre’s Kul Prasad KC as the next chief minister.

Earlier, they had submitted the signature of 41 of 80 members of the assembly to file an application to the governor demanding a special session of the legislative to discuss a no-confidence motion filed against Pokhrel. But, with Pokhrel resigning some minutes before the commencement of the meeting, the no-confidence vote was not held.

Hence, it is almost certain that KC will be appointed the new CM tomorrow.

Meanwhile, a single bench of the Supreme Court Justice Ananda Mohan Bhattarai forwarded a writ petition filed against the legality of the no-confidence motion to the chief justice-led constitutional bench for further hearing today.

Chief Minister Shankar Pokhrel had already lost majority support in the assembly. The opposition parties have already submitted the signatures of 41 lawmakers of the 80-member assembly, stating they can garner the majority support to form the new government.

Earlier on May 2, Pokhrel was reappointed as the chief minister, hours after he resigned from the position, as he had claimed his party, CPN-UML, had the support of 41 lawmakers in the province. However, two lawmakers had resigned from the positions expressing dissatisfaction with Pokhrel whereas one defected to the CPN-Maoist Centre.

It means Pokhrel had the support of only 38 lawmakers currently.

Consequently, the opposition parties had filed a no-confidence motion against him on May 9, but the then governor Dharma Nath Yadav, who was close to the UML, had rejected the call, arguing the motion cannot be filed in the first two years of the appointment.

Apparently, to pave the way for the opposition parties to topple the government, the federal government consisting of the NC, Maoist Centre and Janata Samajbadi Party had removed Yadav from the position to be replaced with Amik Sherchan, a former Maoist leader.

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