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Hetauda, Aug 5: Indra Bahadur Baniya, the leader of the Nepali Congress parliamentary party, is set to become the sixth Chief Minister of Bagmati Province. Baniya, who also serves as the provincial president of the Congress in Bagmati, submitted his claim to form a new government at the Office of the Province Chief on Monday, August 4.

Following the approval of Bahadur Singh Lama’s resignation, Province Chief Deepak Prasad Devkota called for applications to appoint a new Chief Minister by 2 PM Tuesday, August 5.

Baniya submitted his claim on Monday with the support of 64 members — 37 from the Nepali Congress and 27 from the coalition partner CPN-UML. In the 110-member provincial assembly, 56 members’ support is required to form a government.

After the 2 PM deadline today, Province Chief Devkota is expected to appoint Baniya as Chief Minister. The oath of office and secrecy is scheduled for 4 PM today, Tuesday, August 5.

Devkota invoked Article 168(2) of the Constitution of Nepal to initiate the process. Since no single party commands a majority, the constitution requires that a member who can command majority support from two or more parties be appointed as Chief Minister under this provision.

According to a Congress lawmaker, Baniya has already planned to expand the Council of Ministers today. Right after taking the oath, he is expected to appoint some ministers from both Congress and UML.

In the 110-member Bagmati Provincial Assembly, Nepali Congress holds 37 seats, UML has 27, Maoist Centre 21, Rastriya Prajatantra Party (RPP) 13, CPN Unified Socialist 7, Nepal Majdoor Kisan Party (NMKP) 3, and Hamro Nepali Party 2.

A coalition government between Congress and UML has been in place in Bagmati since July 24, 2024 (9 Shrawan 2081). Bahadur Singh Lama of Congress, who became the first Congress Chief Minister in Bagmati, announced his resignation on Sunday, August 3, and submitted it to the Province Chief via his principal private secretary Chhatra Lama on Monday, August 4.

On July 24, 2024 (9 Shrawan 2081), Lama faced a no-confidence motion filed by his own party members. On July 28, 2024 (13 Shrawan 2081), the motion was put to a vote and Lama lost his majority, which cost him his position as party leader. On July 29, 2024 (14 Shrawan 2081), Indra Bahadur Baniya defeated Lama in the internal party election and became the new leader.

When the government was formed a year ago, Congress and UML had agreed to take turns leading the government for 20 months each. As per that agreement, Baniya is expected to lead for 8 months, after which he will hand over power to UML in March 2026 (Falgun 2082).

People’s News Monitoring Service