KATHMANDU, Nov 8: Madhesh Province Chief Minister Jitendra Sonal has submitted his resignation to Province Chief Sumitra Bhandari Subedi after realizing that he would not be able to secure a vote of confidence.
Sonal reached the Office of the Province Chief on Saturday evening and formally tendered his resignation from the post. Earlier in the day, he had announced his decision to step down during a meeting of the Provincial Assembly.
Madhesh CM Yadav resigns amid failure to secure majority votes
Chief Minister Sonal was scheduled to seek a vote of confidence in the same session. However, anticipating insufficient support, he opted to resign before the vote.
In the 107-member Provincial Assembly, a minimum of 54 votes is required to have a majority. Former chief ministers Satish Kumar Singh and Tribhuwan Shah—both affiliated with the Janamat Party—were absent in the meeting.
The ruling coalition in the Madhesh Provincial Assembly comprises the Loktantrik Samajbadi Party (LSP) with eight seats, the Janata Samajbadi Party (JSP) Nepal with 18, the Janamat Party with 13, the CPN (Maoist Centre) with nine, and the CPN (Unified Socialist) with seven seats.
However, Bimala Ansari, a lawmaker from the JSP who had earlier pledged to support the government, was absent in the meeting. In addition, Maoist Centre provincial lawmakers Rahbar Ansari and Mala Rai openly rebelled during the assembly meeting, as the coalition government fell short of required support.
