Parliamentary party leader of Nepali Congress (NC) in Gandaki Surendra Raj Pandey has moved the Supreme Court (SC) demanding revocation of appointment of CPN-UML parliamentary party leader Khagaraj Adhikari as chief minister (CM) of the province.
Advocate Chiranjivi Sharma has filed the petition on behalf of Pandey, who was the previous CM, seeking revocation of Adhikari's appointment and demanding that Pandey be made caretaker CM.
The SC has summoned both the sides on Wednesday for discussion to decide whether an interim order needs to be issued in the case or not, according to Sharma.
Gandaki Province Chief Dilli Raj Bhatta appointed Adhikari to the post according to Article 168 (2) of the Constitution Sunday afternoon.
Adhikari had staked claim for the post of chief minister with the support lawmakers from UML and CPN (Maoist Center) and independent lawmaker Rajeev Gurung.
NC had written to Province Chief Bhatta requesting him not to appoint the chief minister in an unconstitutional manner. It had protested that Adhikari had showed majority by counting even the speaker.
The 60-seat Gandaki Provincial Assembly has 27 lawmakers from NC, 22 from UML, 8 from Maoist Center, 2 from Rastriya Prajatantra Party and one independent lawmaker.
NC had also requested the province chief to authenticate support of each lawmaker pointing that the claim presented by UML and Maoist Center to make Adhikari chief minister contained only signatures of parliamentary party leaders.
The SC has already set a precedent prohibiting support by the speaker to form a new government. The apex court on July 27, 2023, had revoked appointment of Uddhav Thapa of Nepali Congress as Koshi's chief minister ruling that signing by the speaker to form the government was unconstitutional.
