Rashtriya Janamorcha has demanded status of its Gandaki lawmaker Khim Bikram Shahi be made public.
Janamorcha Spokesperson Durga Paudel issuing a statement on Thursday has demanded so pointing that even the party's central leaders and provincial lawmakers were prevented from meeting Shahi.
"Why has he been kept as a prisoner and what is the reason for that?" the statement asks.
Shahi, who was out of contact as the assembly meeting was discussing the no-confidence motion registered against Chief Minister (CM) Prithvi Subba Gurung and scheduled to vote on it Wednesday, was later found to have been hospitalized at the intensive care unit (ICU) of Charak Hospital in Pokhara for treatment of COVID-19. CM Gurung went to the hospital later in the evening to meet him.
Shahi tested negative when the provincial public health laboratory tested all lawmakers on demand of ruling CPN-UML but another test done almost simultaneously at a private laboratory found him to be positive.
Janamorcha has claimed that Shahi has been hospitalized falsely ruling him to be infected despite the government laboratory finding him to be uninfected.
The special session of the provincial assembly in Gandaki was halted indefinitely on Wednesday after Shahi went missing.
Provincial assembly secretary Hari Raj Pokharel issuing a notice informed that the meeting has been halted until further notice pointing at the demand of Janamorcha to stop proceedings until the missing lawmaker attends the meeting.
Chief Whip of the party Piyari Thapa earlier on the day registered an application in the provincial parliament secretariat demanding that the status of lawmaker Shahi, who is out of contact, be made public, his life saved and assembly proceedings stopped until his status is made public.
The assembly was holding discussion on the no-confidence motion registered against Chief Minister (CM) Prithvi Subba Gurung by Nepali Congress (NC), CPN (Maoist Center) and Janata Samajwadi Party (JSP).
Voting on the motion was scheduled to be held Wednesday itself and the motion would likely fail if Shahi does not turn up and vote in support of the motion.
