A provincial assembly meeting of Province 3 endorsed the proposal to name the province as Bagmati by a majority vote on Sunday. The meeting also endorsed Hetauda as the provincial capital.

The proposal on the name of the province forwarded by Nepali Congress lawmaker Indra Baniya garnered 108 votes while no votes were cast against the proposal.

“Likewise, Chief Minister Dormani Poudel’s proposal to name Hetauda as the provincial capital also received a two-third majority,” announced province assembly Speaker Sanu Kumar Shrestha.

The proposal received 105 votes in its favour while three votes were against the Chief Minister’s proposal.

Poudel had registered the proposal at the assembly secretariat on Saturday which was seconded by Baniya including lawmakers from Rastriya Prajatantra Party and RPP (Samyukta) among six other parties.

The ruling Nepal Communist Party, on December 29, had instructed its provincial party committee and the parliamentary committee of Province 3 to adopt Bagmati as the name of the province with Hetauda as its capital. The decision had met with criticism with legal experts describing it as a move against constitution and federalism.

In the 110-strong provincial assembly, 108 were present at Sunday’s meeting.