Bagmati Chief Minister Lama seeks confidence vote today

Hetauda: Today, Bagmati Chief Minister Bahadur Singh Lama will seek a vote of confidence from the provincial assembly. Lama, who assumed office on July 23, inherited the role from the Congress-UML alliance. According to constitutional requirements, he must secure a vote of confidence from the provincial assembly within 30 days of his appointment.

Chief Minister Lama is following Article 168 (4) of the Constitution of Nepal and sub-rule (1) of Rule 143 of the Provincial Assembly Rules, 2074 in preparing for this vote. To formalize the process, he requested the Provincial Assembly Secretariat in Hetauda to convene a meeting.

In response, Speaker of the Provincial Assembly Bhuvan Kumar Pathak has scheduled the meeting for today (Tuesday) at 3 pm. During this meeting, the assembly will discuss and decide on the motion of confidence for Chief Minister Lama.

At the start of the session, Chief Minister Lama will present his proposal regarding the vote of confidence. Subsequently, assembly members will express their views on the proposal. The assembly will then proceed to a vote, where members will cast their ballots in favor, against, or abstain from the motion.

Chief Minister Lama has reached out to opposition parties, including the Maoist Center, requesting their support for the vote of confidence. He has sent letters to Shalikram Jamkattel, Leader of the Maoist Center Parliamentary Party; Krishna Prasad Sharma Khanal, Leader of the United Socialist Parliamentary Party; Uddhav Thapa, Leader of the RPP Parliamentary Party; Surendraraj Gosai, Leader of the Nepal Majdoor Kisan Parliamentyary Party; and Shailendraman Bajracharya, Leader of the Hamro Nepali Parliamentary Party.

Since forming the government with one non-departmental minister on July 26, Chief Minister Lama has secured the support of 64 provincial assembly members, including 27 from the UML and 37 from the Congress. This marks the first time in Bagmati’s history that the Congress has secured leadership of the government. Lama has appointed 6 UML members and 8 Congress members as ministers.