Nepal: Ruling party lawmakers register no-confidence motion against Karnali Province CM

As many as 18 lawmakers from Karnali Provincial Assembly registered a no-confidence motion against Chief Minister Mahendra Bahadur Shahi.

The lawmakers, who signed on for the no-confidence motion, stated that Shahi, also a parliamentary party leader from Nepal Communist Party (NCP), is responsible for the feeble presence of the party in parliament.

"Due to this reason, the presence of the party, as well as government in public or ground level, is not seen effectively. Therefore, it is requested to call for a meeting and pave the way," the proposal registered in the party's parliamentary office states.

The lawmakers from the ruling party filed the motion as per Rule 24 (1) of the Parliamentary Party Statute 2075 BS. Out of 18 signatories of the petition, 15 are from the former CPN-UML (Communist Party of Nepal-Unified Marxist Leninist) while three are from former CPN (Maoist Center).

"We will call the meeting within 15 days as per the Parliamentary Party Statute to discuss on the matter. Right now discussion and coordination with senior leaders present in parliament and center is going on," Chief whip of NCP from Karnali Province, Gulabjung Shah informed .

Karnali Province Assembly has a total of 40 lawmakers out of which 33 are from the ruling NCP. Article 188 (3) of the Constitution of Nepal has granted authority to dismiss a Chief Minister through a majority vote.

With the Center is working on the party unification process, the new development in Karnali Province has increased speculation over it. CM Shahi, whose post is now in question, was appointed stepping on Article 168 (2) as there was no single-party majority.

( With inputs from ANI )