Province 1, Bagmati govts likely to collapse this week
Ratopati Infographics
KATHMANDU: Two provinces ---- Province 1 and Bagmati Province--- are likely to witness collapse of the existing governments this week as newly formed governments in both the provinces have fallen in minority impacted by the formal split in the CPN-UML.
Bagmati Province’s Chief Minister Ashta Laxmi Shakya has tabled a confidence motion in the provincial assembly. A meeting of the assembly scheduled for Thursday will discuss and vote on the motion.
The meeting of Province 1 Assembly, on the other hand, has been summoned for Friday. Chief Minister Bhim Acharya is also required to take the trust vote as the ruling UML was split and a new party named CPN (Unified Socialist) was formed.
Chief ministers duo Shakya and Acharya are under pressure to take trust vote as per the constitutional provision which requires them to go for a floor test within 30 days of party-split.
Equation in Bagmati
In the 109-member Bagmati Provincial Assembly, ruling CPN-UML now has 43 lawmakers --- short of 12 votes to secure a trust vote. CPN (Maoist Center) has 23 members while Nepali Congress (NC) holds 22 seats. As many as 13 lawmakers belong to the newly formed CPN (US) --- a party formed by the then dissident faction of the UML. The opposition alliance comprising Maoist Center, NC, CPN (US) and Janata Samajbadi Party(JSP) have a total of 58 lawmakers--- enough to fail Chief Minister Shakya’s trust motion. There are three lawmakers belonging to Bibeksheel Sajha Party and two each to Nepal Workers and Peasants Party (NWPP) and Rastriya Prajatantra Party (RPP).
After the then CM Dormani Poudel stepped down from his post, Ashta Laxmi Shakya was sworn in as the chief minister of Bagmati Province on August 18.
Scenario in Province 1
Chief Minister Bhim Acharya is also less likely to win the trust motion in the 92-member provincial assembly. With 47 votes required to win the motion, the ruling UML has only 41 lawmakers.
The opposition alliance holds a clear majority in Province 1 as well including 21 of NC, 15 of Maoist Center, 10 of CPN (US) and three of JSP. RPP and United Democratic Forum have one member each in the province.
CM Acharya has succeeded his predecessor Sher Dhan Rai of the same party after the latter resigned and proposed Acharya as the UML parliamentary party leader in the province.
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