KATHMANDU, JULY 07
The main opposition party CPN-UML today filed a writ petition at the Supreme Court against the newly formed government of Koshi Province, calling it 'unconstitutional'.
The UML demanded that the process of appointing Uddhav Thapa of the Nepali Congress as the chief minister of Koshi yesterday be scrapped.
Supreme Court Spokesperson Bimal Paudel said the writ petition was registered today.
Uddhav Thapa of Nepali Congress, who submitted a letter of support with the signature of Koshi Speaker Baburam Gautam, was appointed the new chief minister by Province Chief of Koshi Parshuram Khapung yesterday.
In Koshi Province, there was confusion regarding formation of a new government after the province government led by the CPN-UML failed to win the vote of confidence last week.
There are 93 Province Assembly members - 40 with CPN-UML and 6 with Rastriya Prajatantra Party.
Thapa submitted the claim that he had majority, mentioning that the speaker of the Koshi province was also in his favour.
Stating that the constitution provides that the speaker can give his support only in case of equal votes, the UML objected that the appointment was contrary to the spirit of separation of powers and filed a writ petition at the Supreme Court on behalf of UML parliamentary party leader Hikmat Kumar Karki.
The writ petition states that although there is a provision for the chief minister to be appointed with the support of two or more parties according to Article 168 of the constitution, there is no provision for the support of the speaker.
According to Supreme Court Spokesperson Paudel, the situation is that a writ petition has been filed against the province head of Koshi, the present chief minister and the speaker of the PA."
"The issue raised in the writ petition is that since Hikmat Kumar Karki is the leader of the parliamentary party of the largest party, he claims that the Cabinet should be formed under his chairmanship."
The first hearing of the writ petition is scheduled for Sunday.
Earlier, the Office of the province head stated that Thapa had been appointed chief minister in accordance with article 168 (2) of the constitution.
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 get 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 a vote of confidence in the Province Assembly within 30 days.
Earlier, UML leader and former chief minister Hikmat Kumar Karki had got only 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, 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, CPN-MC and JSP-N, which had allied with the opposition camp of UML at the centre, maintained their support for the government for a long time.
Thapa, who ousted Hikmat Karki to become chief minister, has the support of 13 CPN-MC lawmakers, including the speaker, four from CPN (US) Party and one of JSP-N.
A version of this article appears in the print on July 8, 2023, of The Himalayan Times.
