Gandaki Chief Minister Surendra Raj Pandey on Monday secured the confidence of the province assembly after Phanindra Devkota, a lawmaker from the Nepal Samajbadi Party who contested the 2022 election using the CPN (Maoist Centre) election symbol, crossed the floor and voted for Pandey. Nepal Samajbadi Party is led by former Maoist leader Baburam Bhattarai.

A total of 31 lawmakers, including Devkota and independent member Rajiv Gurung, voted in favour of the trust motion tabled by the chief minister. Two provincial assembly members of the Rastriya Prajatantra Party also supported Chief Minister Pandey during the floor test while 22 CPN-UML lawmakers and six from the CPN (Maoist Centre) voted against the motion.

The Maoist Centre had issued a whip to its lawmakers to vote against the trust motion. Devkota, however, defied the whip and voted in favour of the motion.

Speaking at the provincial assembly meeting, Maoist Centre provincial assembly leader Hari Bahadur Chuman said Devkota cannot disobey the whip as he is in the capacity of a lawmaker representing the party. Opposition lawmakers chanted slogans briefly after Devkota crossed the floor.

Pandey was sworn in on May 29 as per Article 168 (3) of the constitution after the Supreme Court declared the May 5 vote of confidence for Khagaraj Adhikari of the UML unconstitutional. The top court issued a mandamus order to appoint Pandey, the provincial parliamentary party leader of Nepali Congress, as the new chief minister within 48 hours. The Congress is the largest party in the 60-strong provincial assembly with 27 members.

The Apex court had issued a mandamus order to appoint Pandey to the position as per the constitutional provision, which states that the province head shall appoint the parliamentary party leader of the party with the highest number of members in the provincial assembly as the chief minister if the chief minister, appointed with the support of two or more parties, fails to win a trust vote within 30 days.

Pandey had moved the court challenging the chief minister’s May 5 vote of confidence in the provincial assembly. He also petitioned the apex court to appoint him as chief minister.

It is Pandey’s second stint as chief minister. On April 27, 2023, Pandey was appointed chief minister of the province. He resigned a year later.

After the formation of a new four-party coalition in Kathmandu, the Maoist Centre withdrew its support to the Gandaki provincial government led by Pandey on March 6, leaving the government in the minority. As per the constitutional provision, the chief minister needed to secure a confidence vote within 30 days after the support was withdrawn. But Pandey has chosen to resign instead of facing the assembly.

UML joins Sodari Cabinet

In Dhangadhi, Sudurpaschim Chief Minister Dirgha Bahadur Sodari has finally expanded the provincial Council of Ministers after the CPN-UML agreed to join the government. The UML was undecided for a long time whether to join the provincial government led by CPN (Unified Socialist) leader Sodari.

The chief minister appointed seven ministers—three each from the UML and CPN (Maoist Centre), and one from the Unified Socialist. Surendra Bahadur Pal of the UML and Om Bikram Bhat of the Maoist Centre have been appointed as the financial affairs and social development ministers respectively. Other ministers—Bir Bahadur Thapa and Hira Sarki of the UML; Akkal Bahadur Rawal and Laxmi BK of the Maoist Centre; and Maya Panta of the Unified Socialist—have yet to be assigned ministerial portfolios.

Provincial Head Najir Miya administered the oath of office and secrecy to the newly appointed ministers amid a function on Monday. With this, the Cabinet has 10 members with the chief minister.

Meanwhile, Tara Joshi, an independent member of the provincial assembly, turned down the ministerial position. Chief Minister Sodari appointed Joshi as the Minister for Industry, Tourism, Forest and Environment but Joshi declined the role and skipped the swearing-in ceremony.

The Sudurpaschim government is all set to split four ministries to increase the number of ministries to 10. Joshi said that he declined the ministerial appointment as the government decided to bifurcate the ministry he was supposed to lead.

(Arjun Shah reported from Dhangadhi)