Two lawmakers from the Nagarik Unmukti Party on Sunday staked a claim to the post of Sudurpaschim chief minister.

Provincial assembly members Kailash Kumar Chaudhary and Laxman Kishor Chaudhary have presented their claims before Provincial Head Najir Miya.

Kailash staked a claim to lead a new provincial government with the support of the CPN-UML, the CPN (Maoist Centre) and independent lawmakers. Earlier, Laxman had laid his claim with the support of the Nepali Congress and the CPN (Unified Socialist).

Two different claims from the same party are an outcome of a longstanding dispute between the Nagarik Unmukti Party chair Ranjita Shrestha and her husband Reshamlal Chaudhary.

Laxman is from the Reshamlal-led faction while Kailash belongs to the establishment faction. Of the seven Nagarik Unmukti members in the provincial assembly, five are close to party leader Reshamlal and two are close to the Shrestha-led camp.

In the 53-member assembly, the Congress has 19 members, the Maoist Centre has 10, the UML 9, the Nagarik Unmukti Party 7, the Unified Socialist has three, and the RPP has one, and one member is independent. Any party claiming the government’s leadership must secure the backing of at least 27 assembly members.

The Province Head made the call for the government formation after Kamal Bahadur Shah of the Nepali Congress resigned from his position on April 4. Shah, who had been rallying to gain a majority in favour of his government, tendered his resignation before Province Head Miya after the failure of his weeks-long effort.