By Tika R Pradhan in The Kathmandu Post, April 28, 2023
More than a month after a change in the ruling coalition ahead of the presidential elections, the CPN-UML has lost power in two provinces, resulting in the appointment of new chief ministers on Thursday.
Nepali Congress provincial assembly leader Surendra Raj Pandey has been appointed the new chief minister of Gandaki Province while another Congress assembly leader Dilli Bahadur Chaudhary was appointed the chief minister of Lumbini Province.
“Province chief Amik Sherchan has appointed provincial assembly member Dilli Bahadur Chaudhary as the new chief minister of the province as per Article 168(2) of the constitution,” the Lumbini province chief’s office said in a statement on Thursday evening. Chaudhary had claimed the post with the backing of 53 members of eight parties and one independent member.
The newly appointed chief ministers—Pandey and Chaudhary, who replaced Khagaraj Adhikari and Lila Giri, respectively—are scheduled to be sworn in on Friday.
Leaders of the two provinces have claimed that federal coalition partners Congress and the CPN (Maoist Centre) have agreed to govern the two provinces by turns.
In January, Pandey was poised to be the chief minister after having previously agreed to run for the provincial assembly, allowing Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal to contest the Gorkha-2 House seat.
But with Congress refusing to hand over the prime ministership to Dahal after the polls, he clinched it with UML’s support, thus changing the political dynamics of the provinces as well.
Now more than a month after Dahal joined hands with the Congress by ditching the UML, the UML-led provincial governments have been collapsing one after another with the Maoist Centre withdrawing its support.
Gandaki Province chief Prithvi Man Gurung appointed Surendra Raj Pandey, who had laid claim to the post with the signatures of 35 assembly members including those from the Congress, the Maoist Centre and the CPN (Unified Socialist).
The 60-strong assembly has 27 members from the Congress, 22 from the UML, eight from the Maoist Centre (including the Speaker), two from the Rastriya Prajatantra Party, and one independent member who recently joined the Unified Socialist.
The position had fallen vacant after the UML’s Chief Minister Adhikari failed to secure a majority during a floor test on April 22.
Chief Minister Adhikari had sought the confidence of the provincial assembly as per Article 188(2) of the Constitution for the second time after the CPN (Maoist Centre) withdrew its support to the government on March 24.
Adhikari, who became chief minister on January 9 with the support of the Maoist Centre and the Rastriya Prajatantra Party, secured a vote of confidence on January 13.
In Lumbini, the UML, which is the largest party in the provincial assembly, had demanded that the province chief Amik Sherchan call the largest party to form a new government.
But UML leader Lila Giri failed to garner a majority when he sought a vote of confidence on Monday, and province chief Sherchan invited parties to claim the chief ministership by 4 pm Thursday as per Article 168(2) of the constitution.
UML assembly member Dilli Raj Bhusal told the Post that his party would discuss the issue and only then take a final call on whether to challenge Sherchan’s invitation.
In the 87-strong provincial assembly the UML has 29 seats; the Congress has 27; the Maoist Centre 11; the Rastriya Prajatantra Party and Nagarik Unmukti Party four each; the Janamat Party, the Janata Samajbadi Party and the Loktantrik Samajbadi Party three each; while the Rastriya Janamorcha and the CPN (Unified Socialist) each have one member, beside one independent member.
On Thursday, Chaudhary laid claim to the post with the backing of 53 assembly members from eight parties including the Congress, the Maoist Centre, the Nagarik Unmukti, the Janata Samajbadi, the Loktantrik Samajbadi, the Janamat Party, the Rastriya Janamorcha, the Unified Socialist, and one independent member.
Now, among the three provincial governments that were led by the UML, only the one in Koshi Province remains owing to a tricky composition of the assembly.
In the 93-member Koshi provincial assembly, 47 votes make a majority. The existing ruling coalition of the UML and the Rastriya Prajatantra Party has 46 provincial members, whereas the Congress, the Maoist Centre, the Unified Socialist and the Janata Samajbadi Party have 47, including Speaker Baburam Gautam of the Maoist party.
“The constitutional provision says the Speaker can vote only to break a tie, so the UML will do all to ensure there is no tie so as to prevent him from voting,” said Uddhav Thapa, the Congress’ Koshi provincial assembly leader. “We are waiting for the top leaders of our parties to settle the issue.”
He said that since an even division of votes may give the Speaker a chance to break the tie, the UML may rather opt to keep one or more of its members from voting.
In such a scenario, the present government will get continuity. Therefore, the incumbent government led by chief minister Hikmat Karki of the UML in Koshi cannot be toppled easily.
According to Thapa, there have been discussions among the parties in the provincial assembly to form a consensus government of all major parties, an idea floated by Chief Minister Karki.
https://kathmandupost.com/national/2023/04/28/gandaki-and-lumbini-get-new-chief-ministers
