KATHMANDU: As many as 40 lawmakers of the Lumbini Provincial Assembly (PA) have met the Chief of the province and submitted a written request to stop the swearing of Shankar Pokharel, stating Pokharel is preparing to form a government on the basis of a single majority.

Lawmakers from the CPN-Maoist Center, Nepali Congress (NC), Janata Samajbadi Party (JSP) and others met the Province Chief on Sunday afternoon and demanded to stop the UML from claiming stake to formation of a single majority government in the current situation.

Although 41 MPs were said to be in favor of UML in the 81-member PA, the number of MPs in favor of UML is limited to 40 after Bimala Oli (Khatri) defected to Maoist Center.

Lumbini NC Chief Whip Fakhruddin Khan said there was no basis for forming a single majority government by Shankar Pokharel and the four opposition parties had more MPs than Pokharel.

Maoist Center leader Kul Prasad KC has claimed that he should be the chief minister as his name was proposed as the next chief minister when a no-confidence motion was filed against Pokharel, who resigned earlier Sunday.