KATHMANDU: President Bidya Bhandari has appointed Prithvi Man Gurung and Amik Sherchan as the governors of Gandaki Province and Lumbini Province, respectively.

President Bhandari appointed Gurung and Sherchan on the recommendation of the Council of Ministers on Tuesday in line with the Article 163 (2) of the Constitution.

A cabinet meeting held at Prime Minister’s official residence in Baluwatar yesterday decided to sack Gandaki and Lumbini governors Sita Kumari Poudel and Dharma Nath Yadav, and recommended Prithivi Bahadur Gurung and Amik Sherchan in their places respectively.

Poudel and Yadav were made governors during the UML Chairman KP Sharma Oli-led government.

Sherchan was earlier governor of Gandaki Province. He was sacked by former Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli after the Supreme Court nullified the merger of the CPN-UML and Maoist Center into erstwhile Nepal Communist Party (NCP).

Sherchan is recommended governor of Lumbini by the Maoist Center and Gurung by the Nepali Congress (NC).

Though the Maoist Center earlier Tuesday decided to re-appoint Sherchan as Gandaki Province governor, a constitutional provision barred him from being re-appointed in the same province.