Surkhet, February 23

Political parties represented in the Province 6 assembly have reached an agreement on the name and the permanent headquarters of the province.

While the naming of provinces and fixing their permanent headquarters have become a bone of contention in other provinces, parties in Province 6 have unanimously agreed to name the province as Karnali. The Province 6 assembly meeting slated for tomorrow is set to approve the name of the province and its provincial headquarters. Parties have agreed to make Surkhet the permanent headquarters of the province.

A source at the at Province 6 assembly secretariat said the proposal to name the province as Karnali and making Surkhet its headquarters would be tabled at the assembly meeting tomorrow.

“UML lawmaker Yamlal Kandel’s proposal to name the province as Karnali will be supported by NC’s Dinbandhu Shrestha, CPN-Maoist Centre’s Sita Nepali and Rastriya Prajatantra Party’s Soshila Shahia at tomorrow’s meet,” a source said.

Similarly, NC lawmaker Jivan Bahadur Shahi will moot the proposal to make Surkhet the permanent headquarters of Province 6. His proposal will be seconded by UML lawmaker Gulabjung Shah, Maoist Centre’s Ganesh Prasad Singh and Rastriya Prajatantra Party’s Soshila Shahi.

Any lawmaker can voice his/her opinion on the proposal. The constitutional provision is that nomenclature and permanent provincial headquarters should be approved by two-thirds majority of the provincial assembly.

The secretariat has prepared to allow interested lawmakers to speak at the meet.

Province 6 assembly has 39 lawmakers apart from the speaker. All the parties have issued a whip to their lawmakers to be present at the meeting as the issues are of paramount importance.

CPN-UML Chief Whip Gulabjung Shah said he had issued a whip to lawmakers from his party to vote on behalf of the motion compulsorily. UML has 19 lawmakers in the provincial assembly.