KATHMANDU: Nepali Congress (NC), the main opposition party, has lodged a writ petition at the Supreme Court (SC) against the confidence vote of the Chief Minister (CM) of Gandaki Province.

Surendra Raj Pandey, the parliamentary party leader of NC, submitted the petition to the apex court on Tuesday.

In the petition, Pandey asserts that Speaker Krishna Prasad Dhital declared CM Khagaraj Adhikari victorious without him securing the confidence vote.

He has urged the court to annul this declaration.

Pandey contends that CM Adhikari, appointed to the post under Article 168 (2) of the Constitution of Nepal, automatically forfeits his position after failing to secure the confidence vote.

With Pandey alleging that Adhikari failed to secure the necessary support, the petitioner seeks the court’s intervention to install him to the post as the leader of the largest party in the provincial assembly.