Pokhara, May 5: Chief Minister of Gandaki Province Khagaraj Adhikari has won a vote of confidence from the Gandaki Province Assembly meeting on Sunday.
Speaker of Gandaki Province Assembly Krishna Prasad Dhital announced that Chief Minister Adhikari’s proposal tabled at the province assembly meeting was approved with a majority of votes.
A total of 30 province assembly members seconded the proposal tabled by Chief Minister Adhikari while 27 voted against the motion. Likewise, two province assembly members chose to remain neutral.
The province assembly members of the CPN (UML), Maoist Centre, and an independent voted for Adhikari while Nepali Congress lawmakers voted against Adhikari’s proposal.
The NC province assembly members protested the Speaker’s announcement after he declared the voting by 30 as a majority of votes by making a basis for the Supreme Court (SC) verdict.
Earlier, Nepali Congress parliamentary party leader in Gandaki Province Surendra Raj Pandey asked the Speaker not to take a side and urged the Speaker to consider the message written in the constitution.
Likewise, the parliamentary party leader of CPN (Maoist Centre) in Gandaki Hari Bahadur Chuman asked the Speaker to act as a referee adding that the Speaker has the responsibility to safeguard the Gandaki Province Assembly from its dissolution.
NC’s protest in Gandaki Province Assembly meeting
The Nepali Congress (NC) has expressed its disagreement with the way Gandaki Province’s Chief Minister Khagaraj Adhikari obtained vote of confidence in the Province Assembly meeting.
The NC’s Province Assembly members stood from their respective places and chanted slogans in protest after CM Adhikari was announced to have obtained the vote of confidence based on the support of majority where Adhikari received vote of confidence from 30 out of the 59 Province Assembly members excluding the Speaker.
NC argued the Speaker announced that Adhikari secured the vote of confidence without complying with parliamentary practice and traditions, while he who is seeking vote of confidence has to obtain it from the majority number of members from among all members in the Province Assembly.
NC Province Assembly Parliamentary Party leader and outgoing Chief Minister of the Province Surendra Raj Pandey said that the announcement about obtaining vote of confidence was ”unconstitutional” and thus they would move to Supreme Court for legal recourse.
In a press meet organized at the NC parliamentary party’s office in Pokhara on Sunday, leader Pandey insisted that at least 31 Province Assembly members out of 60 members in the Province Assembly has to be secured as vote of confidence for the Chief Minister.
The Speaker, according to Pandey, should play a neutral role and remain within constitution and Province Assembly regulation and should not favour any party.
Speaker Krishna Prasad Dhital had announced that CM Adhikari had secured the vote of confidence based on the principle of majority. Adhikari had received 30 votes, 22 from CPN (UML), 7 from CPN (Maoist Centre) and one from independent member.
