Nepali Congress provincial assembly leader Kamal Bahadur Shah has been appointed Sudurpaschim chief minister.

Province chief Dev Raj Joshi on Thursday appointed Shah to the post as per Article 168(3) of the constitution after CPN-UML’s Rajendra Singh Rawal lost the position of chief minister.

As per the constructional provision, the province chief appoints the parliamentary party leader of the party which has the highest number of members in the provincial assembly as the chief minister if the chief minister appointed with the support of two or more parties fails to secure a vote of confidence within 30 days of appointment.

Earlier today, Rawal tendered his resignation after failing to secure the vote of confidence during the floor test in the provincial assembly. Rawal was appointed chief minister on January 11 after the latter laid his claim for the post with the support of 29 provincial assembly members.

“As lawmakers saying ‘no’ are more in number, I declare that the motion of Rajendra Singh Rawal seeking a vote of confidence is rejected by a majority,” said the provincial assembly speaker Bhim Bahadur Bhandari.

In the 53-member assembly, the opposition the Nepali Congress has 19 members, the Unified Socialist three, and one independent lawmaker, while the CPN-UML has nine, the Maoist Centre 10, the Nagarik Unmukti Party seven, and the Rastriya Prajatantra Party one lawmaker.

Rawal couldn’t secure the majority in the assembly as one of the ruling coalition partners, the Nagarik Unmukti Party, refused to vote for him.

The newly appointed Chief Minister Shah should also secure a vote of confidence from the provincial assembly within 30 days after the date of appointment.