KATHMANDU: The oath-taking ceremony for three newly appointed ministers of the Bagmati Province government will be held today.
Chief Minister Bahadur Singh Lama appointed Govinda Lamsal, Gita Gurung, and Maya Shrestha as ministers on Wednesday. They are scheduled to take their oath of office this afternoon.
According to Devendra Sapkota, spokesperson for the Bagmati Province Chief’s Office, the ceremony is set for 1 PM on Thursday.
The event was scheduled for today due to Wednesday’s election for the leader of the Nepali Congress parliamentary party.
Chief Minister Lama was defeated by Indra Bahadur Baniya in that election. Since then, Baniya has been pressuring Lama to step down, claiming the majority of provincial assembly members from the Nepali Congress support him.
However, Lama maintains that he is not obligated to resign solely because he is no longer the party’s parliamentary leader.
Lama was appointed Chief Minister under Article 168 (2) of the Constitution, after no party was able to form a majority government as per Article 168 (1).
Article 168 (2) states that “if no party has a clear majority in the Provincial Assembly, the Provincial Chief shall appoint a member who can command a majority with the support of two or more parties as Chief Minister.”
Lama argues that under this provision, being the leader of a parliamentary party is not a constitutional requirement for holding the Chief Minister’s post.
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