NC’s Shah appointed as Sudurpashchim Chief Minister

Published On: February 10, 2023 08:00 AM NPT By: Republica  | @RepublicaNepal


Incumbent Chief Minister Rawal loses his job after Nagarik Unmukti Party withdraws its support

KATHMANDU, Feb 10: In a sudden twist in the provincial assembly politics, the Parliamentary Party (PP) leader of the Nepali Congress (NC), Kamal Bahadur Shah, was appointed the Chief Minister of Sudurpashchim Province on Thursday.

Shah was appointed as the new Chief Minister after the outgoing Chief Minister Rajendra Singh Rawal of the CPN-UML could not secure a trust vote in the provincial assembly.

Sudurpaschim Province Governor Dev Raj Joshi appointed Shah as the new Chief Minister after Rawal tendered his resignation from the post shortly after failing to secure a trust vote. The newly-appointed Chief Minister Shah needs to take a vote of confidence from the provincial assembly within a month.

Shah was elected as a Provincial Assembly member from Kailali 2 (B). He had secured a total of 10,433 votes in the recently-held provincial assembly election.

Although Shah was close to the Shekhar Koirala-led faction within the NC during the party’s general convention, he changed his allegiance to the party President Sher Bahadur Deuba following the party’s district level convention. He was earlier defeated in the election to the member of Constituent Assembly (CA) held in 2013.

Sudurpaschim Province has a total of 53 provincial assembly members. The provincial assembly has 19 members of NC, 11 of CPN (Maoist Center), 10 of CPN-UML, 7 of Nagarik Unmukti Party and 4 of CPN (Unified Socialist). The provincial assembly also has one member of the Rastriya Prajatantra Party and one independent member.

Rawal was appointed as the Chief Minister after garnering the support of 29 members in the provincial assembly - 11 from Maoist Center, 10 from CPN-UML, 7 from Nagarik Unmukti Party (NUP) and 1 from RPP. Rawal was forced to lose his job after Nagarik Unmukti Party decided not to vote for his government, alleging that the federal government had not taken any initiative to release their party’s leader Resham Chaudhary from jail.


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