Madhesh Chief Minister Yadav secures trust vote

JANAKPURDHAM: Madhesh Province Chief Minister Krishna Prasad Yadav secured a resounding vote of confidence from the Madhesh Province Assembly on Friday.

Yadav, who is the parliamentary party leader of Nepali Congress (NC) in the provincial assembly, received backing not only from his seven-party ruling coalition but also from the main opposition, the CPN-UML. The Chief Minister received 92 votes, while not a single lawmaker voted against him.

A majority of 54 votes is needed in the 107-member Madhesh Province Assembly.

Yadav was appointed Chief Minister on December 5 under Article 168(2) of the Constitution of Nepal, 2015, with the backing of 77 lawmakers from the NC, Janata Samajbadi Party (JSP) Nepal, Janamat Party, Loktantrik Samajwadi Party (LSP) Nepal, CPN (Maoist Center), and CPN (Unified Socialist).

Madhesh Province Assembly has 25 members from UML (one suspended), 22 from NC, 18 from JSP (Nepal), including one suspended, 13 from Janamat Nepal, nine from CPN (Maoist Center), eight from LSP (Nepal), seven from Unified Socialist, and one each from Nagarik Unmukti Party, Rastriya Prajatanta Party and Sanghiya Samajbadi Party.

Earlier, Saroj Kumar Yadav of the CPN-UML. stepped as the Chief Minister after it became certain that he would fail the floor test in the provincial assembly.

Addressing the provincial assembly after securing the vote of confidence, Chief Minister Yadav said the provincial government was committed to moving forward with good governance, development, and prosperity of the province. He added that good governance and transparency would guide the government’s policy decisions and help improve service delivery.