Nepali Congress Provincial Assembly party leader Uddhav Thapa has been appointed the Chief Minister of Koshi Province.

Provincial Head Parshuram Khapung on Tuesday appointed Thapa as the Chief Minister of the province after the latter submitted a claim for the post with the signatures of 47 lawmakers.

Thapa’s claim had come following the resignation of Provincial Assembly Speaker Baburam Gatuam earlier in the day. Gautam’s resignation ensured that the candidate from the alliance of parties including the Congress and CPN (Maoist Centre) among other parties, will have majority votes to stake claim for government formation.

Signatures of 29 lawmakers from Congress, 14 from the Maoist Centre, four from the CPN (Unified Socialist) and one from the Janata Samajbadi Party were submitted to the provincial head.

The support of 47 lawmakers in the 93-member provincial assembly is needed to form a government.

The main opposition CPN-UML has 40 lawmakers and Rastriya Prajatantra Party has six provincial lawmakers.

Earlier on July 6, provincial head Khapung had appointed Thapa as the new chief minister after laying claim to lead a new majority government with the signatures of 46 lawmakers and Speaker Gautam.

However, on July 27, the Supreme Court removed Thapa from the post of chief minister and mandated the province head to appoint a chief minister of a coalition government within seven days.

Province Head Khapung, accordingly, asked the political parties to stake claim to the government by 5 pm on Tuesday.

Thapa had replaced the then Chief Minister Hikmat Bahadur Karki from the UML, who had lost the position after failing to secure the vote of confidence during the floor test in the provincial assembly on June 30.

The Karki-led government was rendered into a minority after the Maoist Centre withdrew its support to the government on June 6.