CPN (Maoist Centre) provincial assembly leader Shalikram Jamkattel has been appointed chief minister of Bagmati Province.

Provincial head Yadav Chandra Sharma appointed Jamkattel as the chief minister after he laid claim to the post with the support of 70 members of the 110-seat provincial assembly.

“Provincial head Yadav Chandra Sharma has appointed CPN (Maoist Centre)’s member of the Bagmati Provincial Assembly Shalikram Jamkattel as the chief minister of the province as per Article 168(2) of the constitution,” reads the statement issued by the office of the Bagmati Province Chief Sharma.

Jamkattel has the support of UML’s 27 members, the Maoist Centre’s 21 members, 13 of the Rastriya Prajatantra Party, seven of CPN (Unified Socialist) and two members of the Hamro Nepali Party.

Jamkattel is the fourth chief minister of the Province since the formation of the provincial governments in 2017. Despite having more seats in the previous provincial assembly, Maoist Centre had supported CPN (Unified Socialist) leader Rajendra Pande as the chief minister during the previous term.

UML’s Dormani Poudel was the first chief minister of the province after the 2017 federal and provincial polls and then another UML leader Asta Laxmi Shakya took charge for a brief period before Unified Socialist’s Pande took over the helm following the split in the then Nepal Communist Party.