The provincial assembly meeting of Province 5 endorsed the proposal to name the province as Lumbini by a majority vote on Tuesday. The meeting also endorsed Deukhuri Valley in Dang district as the provincial capital. The provincial assembly endorsed the name of the province and its capital by a two-thirds majority, as stipulated in the constitution.

The proposal to name the province as Lumbini garnered 79 votes while 69 votes were cast in favour of Deukhuri as the permanent headquarters of the province.

Four assembly members voted against the name, Lumbini, and 13 assembly members voted against Deukhuri as the provincial headquarters.

On Friday, Provincial Minister for Internal Affairs and Law Kul Prasad KC registered a proposal at the Provincial Assembly to name Province 5 as Lumbini and Deukhuri as its capital. The proposal was tabled after the decision of NCP chairmen KP Sharma Oli and Pushpa Kamal Dahal. The NCP leadership has been criticised for intervening in the constitutional rights of the provincial assembly to determine the name and capital of the province.

In the 87-strong provincial assembly, 86 were present in Tuesday’s meeting. Among them, 82 members participated to vote for the provincial headquarters whereas 83 participated to name the province. The remaining members boycotted the voting process.

Since Friday, various political parties, social organisations and the general public have taken to the street in several places of Rupandehi to protest the Province 5 government’s proposal to designate Deukhuri of Dang as the provincial capital. According to them, the proposal regarding the name and capital of Province 5 was registered without discussing with other political parties at the provincial assembly. They were demanding that Butwal in Rupandehi be named the provincial capital.

Butwal was declared the temporary capital on January 17, 2018, pending a decision from the provincial assembly on the name and capital of the province.

On Monday, provincial assembly members from the Nepali Congress also resorted to vandalism amid disputes in the ruling party over the name and capital of the province.

Meanwhile, in the assembly meeting on Tuesday, Shankar Pokharel, chief minister of the province, said that the government will develop Butwal as an economic and tourist destination.

“We had tried to make consensus while naming the province and its capital but we could not do so. Although I tried to discuss with other parties, they did not want to change their stance,” Pokharel said. “Deukhuri can be turned into a city that connects Tarai, hills and mountainous districts.”