Madhesh Province CM Jitendra Sonal resigned before a confidence vote, citing insufficient support. In the Provincial Assembly, he accused the Speaker of unilateral actions, announcing his resignation after last-minute withdrawal of support by lawmakers.
CM Sonal Resigns, Alleges Unilateral Conduct
Chief Minister of Madhesh Province of Nepal, Jitendra Sonal, resigned from his post on Saturday after realising he would not secure a vote of confidence in the Provincial Assembly. Sonal announced his resignation during the meeting of the Provincial Assembly on Saturday.
In his address, Sonal alleged that House Speaker Ram Chandra Mandal conducted the session unilaterally. “Honourable House Speaker, you proceeded with the business of the Province Assembly without the presence of any members of the cabinet, and you still moved ahead with the House meeting. This is also about your rights, but you made a unilateral move to proceed with the business of the House. It is not a new thing regarding the conduct of the House session. We have been facing this kind of situation at other times as well.”
The Chief Minister, who has to take the vote of confidence and had proposed the motion, the very person is not present and you already started the division of the vote. The members of the house are discussing, are having consultations. We had held consultations up to eight hours to conduct the sessions, but today you did not wait,” he said. Following the allegation, Sonal announced his resignation, provided the situation that he would lose the confidence motion, anticipating insufficient support. “I, the Chief Minister Jitendra Sonal, who had tabled the motion of vote of confidence, you had created the environment for the tabling of the vote of confidence. Upon analysing the scenario of the house, I resign from the post of Chief Minister. I will send the letter informing about the resignation to the Office of the Province Chief today itself,” Sonal announced.
The Collapsed Majority
Sonal, a leader of the Loktantrik Samajbadi Party (LSP), was appointed Chief Minister on 15 October after former Chief Minister Satish Kumar Singh resigned. He had proposed the confidence motion under Article 168 (4) of Nepal’s Constitution.
Out of the 107 members in the Provincial Assembly, three are currently suspended, leaving 104 active members. Sonal required the backing of at least 53 members to secure the vote.
With the support of five parties totalling 56 members, he was expected to comfortably win the confidence motion. The ruling coalition under Sonal included 18 members from Janata Samajbadi Party (JSP), 13 from Janamat Party, 9 from CPN (Maoist Centre), 8 from LSP, 7 from CPN (Unified Socialist), and 1 from Nepal Samajwadi Party. The Nepali Congress and CPN-UML remained in opposition.
But at the last minute, the provincial lawmakers who had supported Sonal backed off before the confidence motion. (ANI)
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