KATHMANDU: Chief Minister of Gandaki Province, Surendra Raj Pandey, has received a vote of confidence from the Gandaki Province Assembly.
Pandey secured 35 votes – 27 from Nepali Congress, seven from CPN (Maoist Center) and one from CPN (Unified Socialist). While 22 province assembly members of CPN-UML voted against him, two province assembly members of Rastriya Prajatantra Party (RPP) abstained.
He needed 31 votes in the 60-member province assembly to pass the floor test.
Pandey, who is the parliamentary party leader of the Nepali Congress in the province assembly, was appointed as the fourth Chief Minister for Gandaki Province after UML’s Khagaraj Adhikari’s government fell with the formation of a new coalition of Maoist Center and Nepali Congress at the center.
The two parties have agreed to lead the province government by turns.