Sudurpaschim Chief Minister Rajendra Singh Rawal’s confidence vote in the provincial assembly scheduled for Wednesday has been postponed.

The assembly meeting called for Rawal’s floor test was postponed after lawmakers from the Nagarik Unmukti Party did not attend the meeting.

“The scheduled meeting has been deferred till 1 pm Thursday at the request of Rawal,” Assembly Secretary Dev Bahadur Bogati said.

The votes of the Nagarik Unmukti Party, which has seven members in the assembly, are crucial for Rawal to secure a majority.

The Nagarik Unmukti Party’s lawmakers are in Kathmandu.

On Tuesday, they reiterated their stance of not participating in the voting.

CPN-UML provincial assembly leader Rawal, who was appointed on January 11 with the support of 29 assembly members, has the constitutional obligation to take the vote of confidence by Thursday. Failing to secure the confidence vote within a month of his appointment will automatically relieve Rawal of his position.

However, party’s de-facto leader Resham Chaudhary, following an internal discussion with his party members on Tuesday, directed the party’s provincial assembly members not to participate in the voting process, further complicating the situation.

The party has been demanding the release of Chaudhary, a former lawmaker serving a sentence after being convicted of masterminding the Tikapur killings in August 2015 that left seven police personnel and a toddler dead.

With 19 lawmakers Nepali Congress is the largest party in the Sudurpaschim’s 53-member provincial assembly. Similarly, there are 4 provincial assembly members from the CPN (Unified Socialist) and one independent provincial assembly member.