The newly-elected Province-1 Chief Minister Hikmat Kumar Karki is set to seek a vote of confidence on January 13.

Karki registered a proposal stating the same to the Provincial Assembly Office and preparations for the necessary arrangements are underway, informed Province-1 Secretariat Gopal Prasad Parajuli.

According to Article 168(4) of the Constitution, a provincial assembly member who has been appointed as the chief minister with the support of two or more parties must obtain a vote of confidence from the provincial assembly within 30 days from the date of his appointment as chief minister.

Karki, who was elected to the provincial assembly for the second time, laid claim to the post with the support of 60 members in the 93-member-strong assembly on Sunday. He took the oath of office and secrecy on Monday.

Karki is backed by CPN-UML’s 40 lawmakers, CPN(Maoist Centre)’s 13 lawmakers, Rastriya Prajatantra Party’s six lawmakers and one lawmaker of the Janata Samajwadi Party.

Karki is seeking to test the floor amid the ruling party CPN(Maoist Centre) challenging the decision of the central leaders, demanding to take turns to lead the state government.

Following the CPN(Maoist Centre)’s decision to not participate in the government, Chief Minister Karki formed a 4-member cabinet by appointing Thielkumar Menyangbo of the CPN-UML, RPP leader Bhaktiprasad Sitaula and Janata Samajwadi Party’s Nirmala Limbu.

Acting on the decision of the central leaders, Karki will be appointing parliamentarian Baburam Gautam of the CPN(Maoist Centre) as the speaker of the state assembly before moving forth with the floor test. Gautam is the sole candidate for the post.