As parties intensely engage in forming coalitions in the provinces, formation of the sub-national governments has become knottier by the day.

In a dramatic turn of events, Sudurpashcim Head Najir Miya appointed Dirgha Sodari of the CPN (Unified Socialist) as chief minister of the province on Thursday. Sodari presented his claim to the position with the backing of the CPN-UML, the CPN (Maoist Centre) and the Nagarik Unmukti Party and an independent lawmaker. The extended deadline to lay claim to the position ended at 5pm Thursday.

When the UML-Maoist Centre coalition decided to support Nagarik Unmukti leader Kailash Chaudhary for the position earlier, the Unified Socialist, which is a partner in the ruling coalition at the centre, had joined the main opposition Nepali Congress to support another Nagarik Unmukti lawmaker as the chief minister.

The Sudurpaschim move of the Unified Socialist created ripples in Kathmandu earlier this week, prompting top leaders including UML chair KP Sharma Oli and Unified Socialist leaders to trade blame. Oli accused the Unified Socialist of showing a ‘non-political’ culture while the Unified Socialist leaders accused the UML and Maoist leaders of breaching an understanding reached with them.

On Thursday, Unified Socialist chair Madhav Nepal held a meeting with Congress President Sher Bahadur Deuba, who reportedly expressed his readiness to support him to form the provincial government if needed.

Then, the UML became ready to support Sodari for the post. However, a faction of Nagarik Unmukti led by Reshamlal Chaudhary, who commands the support of five of the seven members of the assembly, stood against party chair Ranjita Shrestha’s decision to support Sodari. Immediately after the appointment, five members of the Unmukti Party wrote to the province head, asking him not to validate the support of the party’s other two lawmakers.

Unified Socialist leaders said their party gave the vote of confidence to Bagmati Chief Minister Shalikram Jamkattel on April 1 only after the assurance from the UML and the Maoist Centre to help the party in leading the Sudurpaschim government. However, on April 14, the day before the deadline to appoint chief minister of Sudurpaschim Province, the UML-Maoist leadership allegedly backtracked on its promise to assist the Unified Socialist in Sudurpaschim and decided to back the Nagarik Unmukti’s Kailash Chaudhary as the chief minister of the province.

Laxman Kishor Chaudhary, a provincial assembly member of the Nagarik Unmukti from the Rashamlal Chaudhary faction, told the Post over the phone that they will go to the Supreme Court against Sodari’s appointment.

“I already had submitted my claim for the position of chief minister, but Provincial Head Miya delayed the appointment by unnecessarily extending the deadline,” Chaudhary told the Post. “We do not support Sodari as the chief minister and will rather file a petition in the Supreme Court.”

Unified Socialist leader Prakash Jwala, however, claimed that Sodari still commands a majority even if some of the Nagarik Unmukti members move the Supreme Court against his appointment.

“Ranjita Shrestha is the legitimate leader of Nagarik Unmukti Party and two members of her party have supported our chief minister in Sudurpaschim Province,” Jwala told the Post. “Sodari’s appointment as chief minister is legal.”

Sodari is supported by 10 members of the Maoist Centre, 10 from the UML, four from the Unified Socialist, 2 of the Nagarik Unmukti and one independent member which totals 27 members needed for the appointment, Jwala said.

The Sudurpaschim provincial assembly is 53-strong where the Congress is the largest party with 18 members. The Rastriya Prajatantra Party has one member that is in the opposition camp with the Congress.

Khagaraj Adhikari of the UML was appointed the chief minister of Gandaki on April 7. But the Congress immediately challenged his appointment as Speaker Krishna Prasad Dhital was also listed among the assembly members who supported his bid. Surendra Pandey, the Nepali Congress leader in Gandaki Province, filed a petition in the Supreme Court on April 9 saying that Adhikari’s appointment was unconstitutional as the Speaker was counted among the supporters to garner a majority in Adhikari’s favour.

A similar case happened a year ago in Koshi Province where the Speaker cast his vote to former chief minister Uddav Thapa but it was later nullified as the Supreme Court ruled that the move was unconstitutional.

The UML that had challenged Gautam’s move in the Supreme Court last year involved the Speaker to garner a majority in favour of Adhikari in Gandaki this time around.

The top court has already asked the Adhikari government not to make any decision having lasting implications. The hearing on the petition is scheduled for April 22.

The Koshi government is again in trouble. After the UML and the Maoist Centre withdrew their support, Chief Minister Kedar Karki lost the majority in the assembly. The two opposition parties in Koshi asked him either to prove his majority in the provincial assembly or resign. But he has been defying.

As the UML-Maoist coalition staked their claim to form the government in Koshi, Karki has been trying to stick to power. The opposition parties have demanded a special session of the assembly but Karki has written to the Speaker against that.

Experts said that such problems arose due to political leaders’ tendency to control provincial affairs from the centre.

“Our political leaders are using provincial governments as a power-sharing platform, frequently inviting this kind of problems,” former National Assembly member Khim Lal Devkota, who is also an expert on federalism, said. “If a new alliance forms again at the centre, the provincial governments will face the same problem immediately.”

One and a half years since the November 2022 federal and provincial elections, the provincial governments have seen many ups and downs. The instability in central politics has made provincial governments unstable every time.

The changes in provincial governments was triggered by the March 4 move of Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal when he ditched his coalition partner Nepali Congress to form a new alliance with the main opposition the CPN-UML and three other parties including the CPN (Unified Socialist).

Provincial governments particularly in Koshi, Gandaki and Sudurpaschim have been shaken. Also other provincial governments in Bagmati, Madhesh, Lumbini and Karnali have failed to function smoothly due to the wrangling between ruling parties over the sharing of ministerial portfolios.

Devkota believes that the present structure of governance should be reframed to make provincial governments stable. “Nepal need not have adopted federalism, but since we have already embraced federal governance, we now must make it sustainable,” he added.