KATHMANDU, July 27: The Supreme Court has annulled the appointment of Chief Minister Uddhav Thapa of Koshi Province government. The full bench of Supreme Court justices Til Prasad Shrestha, Anand Mohan Bhattarai and Ishwar Prasad Khatiwada ruled that the signature of Speaker Baburam Gautam on the formation of the Koshi Province government was flawed and the appointment process was found to be against the Constitution of Nepal.

Now, there will be an attempt to form the government according to Article 168 (2) of the constitution. The party that can secure a majority in the 93-member Koshi Provincial Assembly will form the government.

According to Article 168 (3), if no party is able to secure a majority, Hikmat Kumar Karki, the leader of the parliamentary party of the CPN-UML, the largest party in the Koshi Provincial Assembly, will become the chief minister.

On July 7, the outgoing chief minister Hikmat Kumar Karki filed a writ petition at the Supreme Court stating that the process of appointing the Chief Minister in Koshi Province was unconstitutional.

On July 12, the single bench of Justice Sapna Pradhan Malla, while conducting the preliminary hearing on the said petition, ordered the Koshi Province government to submit a written reply, ordering it not to act in a way that would have far-reaching effects on its name.

 
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