The Lumbini province parliamentary party of the Janata Samajwadi Party Nepal (JSP Nepal) has recommended that its central committee remove provincial assembly member Ambika Kafle from her position.
JSP Nepal Lumbini parliamentary party leader Santosh Kumar Pandeya sent a letter to the party’s central committee office on Monday, recommending that Kafle be expelled from the party and that legal proceedings be initiated to remove her as a provincial assembly member. On the same day, the parliamentary party also wrote to the Lumbini Provincial Assembly Secretariat, requesting Kafle’s removal from the Lumbini Provincial Assembly.
The JSP Nepal said that it had decided to continue supporting the government led by Chief Minister Chet Narayan Acharya following the Nepali Congress’ withdrawal from the Lumbini provincial government, in line with a new political equation.
Accordingly, the party issued a whip directing its provincial lawmakers to support Chief Minister Acharya and vote in favor of the confidence motion presented in the provincial assembly on August 17.
However, the parliamentary party has accused Kafle of deliberately remaining absent from the meeting on the confidence vote in violation of the party’s directive.
The letter states that Kafle was asked for an explanation on August 18 over her alleged violation of the party directive, but she did not respond. She was subsequently given 24 hours on August 21 to provide an explanation, but she failed to submit a satisfactory response or clarification, according to the JSP Nepal parliamentary party.
The parliamentary party said that it had decided to expel Kafle from the party and seek her removal from the provincial assembly under Section 32(2) of the Political Parties Act, 2016, concluding that she had defied the entire parliamentary party by violating the party’s directive.
The parliamentary party said that it had recommended the decision to the party’s central committee for final legal action. It has also asked the Provincial Assembly Secretariat not to retain Kafle as a provincial assembly member until the party’s central leadership makes a further decision.
Kafle was elected to the provincial assembly from the JSP Nepal’s proportional representation list. The party has five members in the Lumbini Provincial Assembly.
