As political parties failed to reach a consensus, the provincial assembly has decided to conduct voting to name Province 2 and designate its capital on March 13.

The longstanding issue is going to be decided through voting, as a constitutional committee headed by Speaker Saroj Yadav was unsuccessful in naming the province unanimously due to the differences among the major political parties.

“The provincial assembly meeting that will decide the name and capital of the province through voting is scheduled for March 13. The voting has been scheduled as per the spirit of the constitution,” said Ranjit Yadav, acting secretary at the provincial assembly secretariat.

The ruling parties—Samajbadi Party Nepal (SPN) and Rastriya Janata Party-Nepal (RJP-N)—registered a proposal at the provincial assembly demanding to name the province as Madhes and Dhanusha as its capital. Nepal Communist Party and Nepali Congress proposed to name the province Janaki and Mithila-Bhojpura respectively.

As Nepal Communist Party and Nepali Congress lack numerical strength in the assembly, their proposals are unlikely to get approval.

“The name of the province is unlikely to get decided, as political parties are divided on the issue. However, all major political parties agree to make Janakpur the capital,” said Prameshwor Sah, the whip of RJP-N

As per the constitutional provision, the provincial assembly has the authority to name the province and designate its capital by a two-third majority. The ruling Madhes-based parties do not have the required numerical strength to decide on the issue. The SPN and RJP-N have 30 and 25 members respectively in the 107-member provincial assembly while the NCP and the NC have 32 and 19 seats respectively.

Provinces 3, 4, 6 and 7 have been named Bagmati, Gandaki, Karnali, and Sudurpaschim respectively. Provinces 1, 2 and 5 are yet to be named.