UML’s Hikmat Kumar Karki appointed Koshi Chief Minister

KATHMANDU: Hikmat Kumari Karki has been appointed as the Chief Minister of Koshi Province.

Province Chief Parshuram Khapung appointed Karki to the position on Thursday as per Article 168 (5) of the Constitution of Nepal, 2015.

This is the third time in one and a half years that the CPN-UML leader has assumed the top position in the province.

Earlier on the day, Karki had submitted a claim to form the government in the province with the support of 52 assembly members of UML and CPN (Maoist Center). Now, she will need to secure a vote of confidence in the province assembly within 30 days.

Province Chief Khapung had invited province assembly members to make a claim for government formation in the province as per Article 168 (5) on Wednesday evening, after relieving Kedar Karki of the Nepali Congress of the position.

NC’s Karki has knocked on the apex court, challenging the government formation process.

The Koshi Province Assembly has 93 members – 40 (including the Deputy Speaker) from UML, 29 from the Nepali Congress, 13 from the Maoist Center, six (including the Speaker) from the Rastriya Prajatantra Party, four from CPN (Unified Socialist), and one from the Janata Samajbadi Party, Nepal (JSP Nepal). The support of 47 members is needed to form the government in the province.

Karki was first appointed as the chief minister of the province as per Article 168 (2) after the November 22 polls on December 29, 2022, leading a coalition government of UML, Maoist Center, Rastriya Prajatantra Party, and JSP Nepal.

But her government fell within a few months after the Maoist Center announced a new alliance with the Nepali Congress in the center. However, she returned to the position on September 8, 2023, following the apex court order. She, however, resigned on October 7 after it became certain that she wouldn’t pass the floor test.