The Provincial Assembly Secretariat has scheduled a meeting for Wednesday at 8:30 am for the vote of confidence.
What you should know
Even though the Supreme Court issued a mandate on Monday to seek a vote of confidence within 24 hours, Madhesh Province Chief Minister Saroj Kumar Yadav will seek a vote of confidence only on Wednesday. Stating that he received the court's mandate only at 3 pm on Tuesday, he has written to convene a meeting of the Provincial Assembly at 2 pm on Wednesday for the purpose of seeking a vote of confidence.
The Provincial Assembly Secretariat has scheduled a meeting for the vote of confidence at 8:30 am on Wednesday.
Yadav was appointed Chief Minister on 23 Kartik after the resignation of the then Chief Minister Jitendra Prasad Sonar (Sonal). He was appointed as the leader of the largest parliamentary party in the Provincial Assembly under Article 168 (3) of the Constitution. The then Provincial Chief Sumitra Subedi Bhandari, who was on her way to Kathmandu, administered the oath to Yadav on 24 Kartik at the Panas Cottage Hotel in Kalapani, Bardibas on the BP Highway.
74 MPs, including Congress Parliamentary Party Leader Krishna Prasad Yadav, JSP Nepal Parliamentary Party Leader Saroj Kumar Yadav, Maoist Parliamentary Party Deputy Leader Yubaraj Bhattarai, and LOSPA Parliamentary Party Leader Jayalun Rai, had reached the Supreme Court on 25 Kartik, saying that the process of forming a joint government was not carried out as per Article 168 (2) of the Constitution and that Article 168 (3) was directly followed.
In the same matter, the Supreme Court, while deciding the dispute on Monday, had ordered to proceed with the process of taking a vote of confidence within 24 hours. If Chief Minister Yadav does not receive a vote of confidence, the Supreme Court has also ordered to proceed with the process of forming a government as per Article 168 (2) of the Constitution.
This order was given by a bench of Justices Hari Prasad Phuyal and Nityanand Pandey. There are 107 MPs in Madhesh Province, according to which 54 MPs are required to form a government. UML has 25, Congress has 22, JSP Nepal has 19, Janmat has 13, Maoists have 9, LSP has 9, Unified Socialist has 7, Federal Socialist, RPP and Nagarik Unmukti Party have 1 MP each.
UML MP Dipendra Thakur, JSP MP Saroj Singh Kushwaha, LSP MP Abhiram Sharma are suspended. The current number of members in the Madhesh Province Assembly is 104. Chief Minister Yadav has not seen the support of any party other than UML. The number of MPs who have filed a writ petition in the Supreme Court against Yadav's appointment is 74.
After the Supreme Court's order, Madhesh Province Chief Minister Yadav has three options. First, seek a vote of confidence, second, resign after not receiving a vote of confidence, and third, be automatically removed from office within 24 hours. Chief Minister Yadav, however, has claimed that he will get a vote of confidence. 'I will get a vote of confidence. UML has made everyone the Chief Minister in Madhesh. All those parties support me,' he said.
The decision to face a vote of confidence was made in a meeting of the UML's provincial committee and party leaders, deputy leaders and whips held on Tuesday morning. JSP Nepal Chief Whip Ram Ashish Yadav claimed that Chief Minister Yadav will not get a vote of confidence as the seven opposition parties are united. Congress Chief Whip Kubar Kant Jha also said that there will be no talks or discussions with UML. 'All Congress MPs have arrived in Janakpur,' Jha said, 'All MPs have been put on alert. There is no possibility of the Chief Minister getting a vote of confidence.’
After Yadav’s appointment as Chief Minister became controversial, the federal government had removed the then provincial chief Bhandari from his post. She had also sworn in UML’s Lakhan Das Tatma, Federal Socialist Party’s Bimala Ansari, and RPP’s Kanchan Bichha as ministers at a hotel in Bardibas.
Surendra Labh is currently the provincial chief. Meanwhile, the provincial assembly had removed the then Speaker Ramchandra Mandal from his post by a two-thirds majority decision for not behaving in a manner befitting his position. Mandal is a UML MP.
