DHANGADI: Sudurpaschim Province Chief Minister Kamal Bahadur Shah has secured a vote of confidence in the Provincial Assembly after the Nagarik Unmukti Party (NUP) withdrew its support.
Interestingly, Shah received support from NUP lawmaker Kailash Chaudhary, the same party that had withdrawn its backing. While NUP has seven members in the provincial assembly, only Chaudhary was present and voted in favor of Shah; the other six members were absent.
Shah also received votes from 18 Nepali Congress lawmakers and 11 from CPN-UML. The final vote count is yet to be officially announced. Both the Nepali Congress and CPN-UML had issued a whip to support Shah ahead of the vote.
The Sudurpaschim Provincial Assembly has 52 members (excluding one suspended). A total of 27 votes were required for Shah to secure the confidence vote. With support from 29 lawmakers: 18 from Congress and 11 from UML, Shah comfortably surpassed the threshold.
