Province 1 has finally got its name after more than five years as the provincial assembly endorsed Koshi as the name of the province by an overwhelming majority.
The proposal by the ruling CPN-UML to name the province Koshi was endorsed by more than two-thirds majority as lawmakers from the main opposition Nepali Congress, ruling CPN (Maoist Center) and Rastriya Prajatantra Party also voted in favor of the proposal on Wednesday.
Speaker Baburam Gautam announced that 82 votes were cast in favor of the proposal to name the province Koshi and four votes were cast against it. All four votes against the proposal were cast by CPN (Unified Socialist) lawmakers.
In the 93-strong provincial assembly, 87 lawmakers including the speaker were present during the voting. Janata Samajwadi Party (JSP) lawmaker and minister Nirmala Limbu and RPP lawmaker Sabina Bajgain were denied entry to vote as they were late. Lawmakers including Bhim Parajuli of NC and Rajan Kirati of Maoist Center were absent.
Earlier on Wednesday, the provincial assembly had invited proposals for naming of the province as per Rule 58 B (1) of the Provincial Assembly Regulations 2018 (First Amendment), as stipulated by per Article 295 (2) of the Constitution.
UML lawmaker Ram Bahadur Rana Magar had registered a proposal at the provincial assembly secretariat to name the province Koshi. Niran Rai and Bidur Lingthep of UML and Bhumi Prasad Rajbanshi of NC had supported the proposal. Rajbanshi later withdrew his name.
Unified Socialist and JSP had registered another proposal to name the province Kirat-Limbuwan-Sagarmatha. The proposal was registered by Unified Socialist lawmaker and former chief minister Rajendra Rai and supported by Nirmala Limbu of JSP and Kamal Jabegu of Unified Socialist. But the proposal could not even be entered for discussion as it was rejected by a majority.
UML expressed happiness at the endorsement of its proposal, stating that the name of the province has been finalized by the second provincial assembly during the term of fourth chief minister Hikmat Kumar Karki after two Constituent Assemblies and one provincial assembly had failed to do so.
