CHITWAN , Aug 20: CPN-UML lawmaker Kiran Thapa Magar has been appointed the seventh chief minister of Bagmati Province with the support of 63 provincial assembly members from the Nepali Communist Party (NCP), UML and Rastriya Prajatantra Party (RPP).
Province Chief Dipak Prasad Devkota appointed Thapa Magar chief minister on Thursday under Article 168(2) of the Constitution.
Thapa Magar, who has previously served twice as the province’s health minister, will lead the 104-member Bagmati Provincial Assembly.
Political instability has continued in Bagmati Province since its establishment, with changes in the federal political equation repeatedly triggering changes in the provincial government.
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UML’s Dormani Poudel became the province’s first chief minister on February 12, 2018. He resigned after the split in the UML and formation of the CPN (Unified Socialist) left his government without a majority.
UML leader Astalaxmi Shakya then became chief minister in August 2021 but resigned after failing to secure a vote of confidence.
Rajendra Prasad Pandey of the CPN (Unified Socialist) subsequently became the third chief minister with the support of the Nepali Congress and CPN (Maoist Centre).
After the 2022 provincial elections, no party secured a majority, leading to successive coalition governments shaped by changes in the federal political equation.
Maoist Centre leader Shalikram Jamkattel became chief minister on January 10, 2023, with the support of 70 provincial lawmakers. He later secured a vote of confidence with support from 105 of the 110 members of the provincial assembly.
Jamkattel eventually lost his position after the Nepali Congress-UML alliance was formed at the federal level in June 2024. Nepali Congress leader Bahadur Singh Lama then became chief minister with the support of Nepali Congress and UML on July 24, 2024.
Lama was later replaced after a change in the Nepali Congress parliamentary party leadership, with Indra Bahadur Baniya becoming chief minister with the support of 64 lawmakers from Congress and UML.
The latest shift in the federal political equation has again changed the governing coalition in Bagmati, resulting in Thapa Magar’s appointment as the province’s seventh chief minister.
