Speaker of Gandaki Provincial Assembly Krishna Prasad Dhital announced that Gandaki Chief Minister Khagaraj Adhikari won the vote of confidence on Sunday according to the Supreme Court’s interpretation on April 29.
Speaker Dhital made the announcement in the provincial assembly meeting held on Sunday despite protests by lawmakers from the main opposition Nepali Congress.
Pointing that he also has the right to vote according to Article 186 of the Constitution, Speaker Dhital announced that Adhikari had secured a majority including him.
NC lawmakers started protesting when he was making the announcement.
Speaker Dhital said that 59 lawmakers apart from him participated in the voting and the chief minister secured a majority.
Thirty lawmakers – 22 from CPN-UML, 7 from CPN (Maoist Center) and independent lawmaker Rajeev Gurung -- voted for Chief Minister Adhikari in the floor test held in the provincial assembly on Sunday.
Twenty-seven lawmakers from NC voted against him, while two lawmakers from Rastriya Prajatantra Party remained neutral.
According to previous practice, support of 31 lawmakers was required to secure a majority in the 60-strong provincial assembly.
On April 29, a bench of Supreme Court Justices Sapana Pradhan Malla and Saranga Subedi issued an interpretation that excluding the speaker, support of 30 among 59 lawmakers would suffice for securing a majority in the provincial assembly.
NC parliamentary party leader in Gandaki Surendra Raj Pandey had filed a writ petition at the apex court stating that Speaker Dhital was also counted while forming the Adhikari-led government in the province.
But the bench of Malla and Subedi quashed the petition saying Adhikari would command a majority even when not counting the speaker.
Speaker Dhital made the announcement on Sunday on the basis of the court’s decision.
NC, however, has been saying that the government formed with the speaker’s support is unconstitutional.
A meeting of the NC parliamentary party held on Sunday also decided that the Adhikari-led was formed in an unconstitutional manner.
