KATHMANDU, JULY 6
Province Chief Parshuram Khapung appointed Uddhav Thapa, leader of Nepali Congress Koshi Province Parliamentary Party, as the fifth chief minister of Koshi.
Province head Khapung appointed him the new Koshi CM immediately after he claimed the position from the coalition for appointment to the office.
"According to Article 168(2) of the constitution, I have appointed you chief minister of Koshi. I sincerely congratulate you on being appointed the chief minister and wish you a successful tenure,'' said the province head.
Article 168 (2) of the constitution stipulates, in case there is no clear majority of any party in the Province Assembly, a member of the PA who can garner majority with the support of two or more parties represented in the PA can be appointed chief minister. The chief minister appointed in this way has to take vote of confidence in the Province Assembly within 30 days.
Earlier, UML leader and former chief minister Hikmat Kumar Karki had managed to get 46 votes while taking the vote of confidence. The shift at the centre was responsible for the UML government losing its majority in Koshi.
After the Maoists sided with the Congress during the presidential election last February, the CPN-UML and the RPP left the Dahal-led government.
After the UML-Maoist alliance collapsed at the centre, the Congress-Maoist alliance was formed in the provinces along with the centre.
But considering that parties other than UML and RPP were not able to get majority in Koshi Province, the Maoists and JSP-N, which had allied with the opposition camp of the UML at the centre, maintained their support for the government for a long time.
However, Thapa, who succeeded in toppling the government led by CPN-UML's Hikmat Karki to become chief minister, was supported by CPN-Maoist Centre, CPN (Unified Socialist) Party and Janata Samajwadi Party-Nepal.
Thapa needed 47 lawmakers' support to claim the chief ministership in the 93 member PA. Thapa submitted his claim with 29 lawmakers from Nepali Congress, 13 from CPN- MC including the speaker, four from CPN (US) and one from JSP-N.
Province head Khapung on Sunday had issued a notice to political parties asking them to submit their claims by July 6.
Earlier, CPN-UML and Rastriya Prajatantra party together had submitted a memorandum to the province head Khapung to annul Thapa's claim, arguing it was unconstitutional to form government with the incumbent speaker.
The UML has further said that the appointment is contrary to the principle of separation of powers, saying that the constitution provides that the speaker can give his support only in case of equal votes.
"The constitution does not envisage the formation of government with the involvement of the speaker. Such an act is unparliamentary and unconstitutional. The position of the speaker is considered to be politically neutral. Rather than forming a government like this, it is better not to have a province government," wrote constitutional expert Bhimarjun Acharya.
Chief Minister Thapa was born on 30 November 1957. A permanent resident of Ward No 4 of Arjundhara Municipality in Jhapa, he started politics in 1975 from the Nepali Congress affiliated Nepal Students Union.
Thapa became village committee secretary of the party in 1990. He was elected regional chairman of the party's Jhapa Constituency-2 in the 8th district convention in the year 1978. He became Jhapa district secretary from the 10th district convention, deputy chairman from the 11th convention and Jhapa district chairman from the 12th convention.
Thapa, who is a management graduate, has worked for three years as member of the political apparatus of the then District Development Committee, Jhapa.
For the first time, he became a candidate from Jhapa constituency No 4 in the second election of the Constituent Assembly and was defeated by CPN-UML candidate Prem Giri.
A version of this article appears in the print on July 7, 2023, of The Himalayan Times.
