Kathmandu, December 5
Krishna Yadav, a Nepali Congress (NC) lawmaker, has been appointed chief minister of Madhes Province from the seven-party alliance. Surendra Labh Karna, governor of Madhes Province, appointed Yadav, a Nepali Congress leader, the chief minister today.
Yadav had submitted his claim to the chief minister's post to the governor with the signatures of 77 legislators today. Following that, he was appointed the chief minister with the support of Nepali Congress Provincial Assembly members, JSP-Nepal, CPN-MC, LSP-Nepal and CPN (US).
He was appointed the third chief minister of Madhes Province in less than a month under Article 168 (2) of the Constitution.
The Madhes Province government has been unable to stabilise following the 2022 elections. Four chief ministers have been replaced since the Gen Z protests on September 8 and 9. Following Satish Kumar Singh's resignation, Jitendra Sonal, leader of the LSP-N, became the chief minister.
Rahbar Ansari and Mala Karna of the CPN-MC Provincial Assembly rebelled while he was seeking a vote of confidence. He resigned after the process of splitting the vote of confidence was initiated.
On November 9, the then-provincial chief Sumitra Subedi Bhandari appointed CPN-UML parliamentary party leader Saroj Kumar Yadav the chief minister as the largest party under Article 168(3) of the Constitution. The Supreme Court, in response to three writ petitions filed against it on Monday, directed Saroj to seek a vote of confidence from the Provincial Assembly within 24 hours and, if it did not receive one, to begin the process of forming the government in accordance with Article 168(2) of the Constitution.
The outgoing chief minister, Saroj, resigned after lawmakers walked out of a meeting called to seek a vote of confidence. The CPN-UML, the largest political party in the Madhes Provincial Assembly, has lost all of its powerful positions in less than a month of political development.
First, the federal government dismissed Madhes Province governor Bhandari. Second, the assembly's speaker, Ram Chandra Mandal, was impeached, and on December 3, chief minister Saroj resigned just before the afternoon vote of confidence.
The UML suffered its first setback in Madhes Province when governor Bhandari was fired after she administered the oath of office to Saroj as Madhes CM in one of the hotels in Bardibas in the early hours of November 10. President Ramchandra Poudel removed Bhandari from her position based on the government's recommendation. Surendra Labh Karna was appointed the new governor of Madhes Province.
On November 13, a total of 64 Madhes legislators from seven parties filed a motion in the Provincial Assembly against Mandal. The lawmakers' motion included a demand that speaker Mandal be removed from his position because he had not acted appropriately.
On November 19, the Provincial Assembly meeting chaired by Deputy Speaker Babita Kumari Raut Ishar announced speaker Mandal's removal from his position, and the UML suffered another setback in Madhes Province.
