DANG, May 2: Bimala Khatri, who was elected as a member of the Lumbini Province Assembly from the erstwhile Nepal Communist Party (NCP) has opted to stay with the CPN (Maoist Center). 

Khatri was elected as the assembly member from Dang 3 (B) through a by-election held on November 30, 2019 after former lawmaker and her husband Uttar Kumar Oli died in a road accident in February, 2019. 

After the Supreme Court invalidated the NCP, which was formed following a merger between the CPN-UML and the CPN (Maoist Center), through its February 23 order, Oli opted to stay with the Maoist party. 

According to a Maoist lawmaker, Oli informed the province assembly secretariat  about her decision on Sunday. 

With this, Chief Minister Shanker Pokharel, who was preparing to form a one-party majority government under his leadership, has lost majority in the assembly. Now, the ruling CPN-UML has a total of 40 members in the assembly, short of one seat short to form a majority government.

 
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