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Madhes Province Chief Sumitra Bhandari called for the formation of a new government in the province on Wednesday.

The Province Chief called for the formation of a new government after Chief Minister Saroj Kumar Yadav failed to secure a vote of confidence in the Madhes Province Assembly on June 5.

Issuing a notice, acting Secretary of the Office of Province Chief Satrughan Yadav said the Province Assembly members have been given time till 10 am Friday to present their claim for the post of Chief Minister as per the Article 168 (2) of the Constitution.

"It is to inform that Madhes Province Chief Sumitra Subedi Bhandari has called for the Province Assembly members who can secure a majority on the backing of two or more than two political parties represented in the Province Assembly to present a claim for the Chief Minister by 10 am Friday in accordance with the Article 168 (2) of the Constitution", the notice reads.

Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi held a telephonic conversation on Wednesday.

Prime Minister Dahal telephoned his Indian counterpart Modi to extend best wishes for the successful accomplishment of Lok Sabha elections with the unveiling of the results of the polls held in seven phases.

On the occasion, the two leaders briefly discussed the matters concerning mutual benefits and common interests of both the countries, the Kathmandu-based Indian Embassy said.

PM Dahal expressed his readiness to work in partnership and collaboration with the to-be-formed Indian government so as to further deepen the Nepal-India relations.

PM Modi had also expressed his happiness for having conversation with his Nepali counterpart.

"I am very happy to talk to Prime Minister Prachanda. I thanked him for his warm wishes. Emphasizing our shared commitment to strengthen the deep and multifaceted partnership between India and Nepal, we agreed to maintain a positive momentum in our relations", the Indian Embassy quoted PM Modi as saying.

According to the Lok Sabha election results, the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) has secured 293 seats, while Prime Minister Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) won 240 seats alone.

Madhes Province Chief Minister Saroj Kumar Yadav on Wednesday lost his confidence vote.

He sought the vote of confidence at the Province Assembly meeting this evening.

Of the 103 lawmakers present at the meeting, 50 votes were cast in favor of Yadav 53 votes were cast against him.

The Janata Samajbadi Party Nepal-led government collapsed after he failed to garner a vote of confidence.

This has paved the way to form a new government in the Madesh Province.

The central coalition is preparing to form a new government under the leadership of Janata Samajbadi Party.

Earlier, the Janata Samajbadi Party had made an agreement with the CPN-UML and CPN (Maoist Center) to form a new government.

However, the party had tried to rope in Madhav Kumar Nepal-led CPN (Unified Socialist) and Mahantha Thakur-led Democratic Socialist Party in the government.

Though the CPN (Unified Socialist) had voted against Chief Minister Yadav, the party has not been able to make a decision on whether to join the government or not.

Meanwhile, the Nepali Congress and Thakur-led Democratic Socialist Party had voted in favor of Yadav.

Lawmakers have pressed for the effective implementation of the budget for the fiscal year 2024/25, terming that its implementation was challenging.

The incumbent government on May 28 announced a budget of Rs 1.86 trillion for the upcoming fiscal year.

Speaking at the Parliament meeting today, lawmaker Ramhari Khatiwada emphasized the promptness of the government to effectively implement the budget.

Stating that there were cases of allocating a budget but not implementing it effectively in the previous years, he drew the attention of the government through the Speaker to prevent such a situation.

According to him, an adequate budget should be allocated for the mega projects and the government should pay attention for timely completion of such projects.

Khatiwada viewed that the trend of spending budget towards the end of fiscal year should be ended and development infrastructures should be prioritized.

Similarly, Ishwor Bahadur Lama hailed that some new programs included in the budget were 'positive' and thus highlighted the need for effective implementation.

Furthermore, he demanded to observe May 29 as the Sagarmatha Day and give continuity to 'Sagarmatha Dialogue'. Sagarmatha Dialogue is an initiative of the government of Nepal to host a permanent biennial global dialogue forum in Nepal starting from 2020.

Likewise, Tshiring Damdul Lama Bhote termed the budget as balanced, timely and dynamic, adding it has covered social justice, good-governance and prosperity.

Stating that the budget had prioritized five sectors as transformative areas, he underlined the need to make the budget implementation-oriented.

Sishir Khanal said the budget was balanced. According to him, although the budget could not accord any importance to minimizing the risks of climate change, inclusion of development of information technology and expansion of air connectivity among others were positive aspects of the budget.

Aain Bahadur Shahi Thakuri claimed that the implementation of the budget would be difficult since, he argued, that the budget was populist one. He grieved that the budget failed to adequately incorporate Karnalis' issues.

Chandra Bahadur Bishwakarma saw the need for thought and commitment for budget implementation. Durga Rai said that the budget had incorporated transformative sectors and all regions, communities and geography.

Prem Suwal, however, argued that the budget could not address the reality of the country, expressing his discontent that the government handed over responsibility of carrying out ordinary tasks to the private sector.

Also, airing views, lawmaker Deepak Giri lamented that there was no practical implementation of the annual budget.

Thakur Gairi said the budget was fundamentally right. He questioned whether the ruling parties could not maintain consistency in their common policies and programs.

Purna Bahadur Gharti mentioned that he had full support for the budget presented by the incumbent government. According to him, the budget was a positive one since it had made a pledge for implementation of the Constitution, increasing employment, completing remaining works of the peace process and building a socialism-oriented economy.

Santosh Pariyar demanded to declare Kathmandu City as a 'Cultural City'. He emphasized on moving ahead reducing the existing gap between current expenditure and capital expenditure.

Krishna Kumar Shrestha underlined that the budget had highly prioritized issues such as the underground irrigation program in Terai-Madhes, shallow tube well irrigation and agro development such as making soil fertile.

He argued that the government did not pay attention to addressing acute shortage of drinking water in Terai-Madhes.

Amresh Kumar Singh commented that the budget was allocated on the basis of political influence and it did not pay attention towards addressing recession in the economy.

Lawmakers Bina Jaiswal, Sushila Shrestha, Sonu Murmu and Sarbendranath Shuikla critically commented on the budget for the coming fiscal year.

Finance Minister Barshaman Pun has said the budget is a booster to the national economy, as it was brought in line with the Constitution, 16th periodic plan, review of the republic, and principles and priorities of the appropriation bill.

Constructive feedback from the lawmakers, government policies and programs and commitments made in the international forums were also paid heed while bringing the budget. Minister Pun argued that the economy was getting dynamic with a morale boost of the private sector.

The minister was speaking in response to the lawmakers' multiple queries about whether the budget would prop up the national economy.

During the meeting of the federal Parliament on Wednesday, he believed the financial sector would mobilize investable money to spur economic activities and projects.

"I assure you that we achieve a six percent economic growth with effective enforcement of policies and programs incorporated in the budget. Resources were guaranteed, capital spending upped and projects ensured with budget allocation," Pun claimed.

The government had unveiled the budget of Rs 1. 86 trillion budget for the fiscal year 2024/25.

According to the minister, the budget is not ambitious but balanced as compared to the past. It is not distributional but productive, he added. 

The finance minister further assured the lawmakers that the national pride projects would not see budget crunch. Climate change has been kept in priority as per principles of climate justice.

He shared that the tax system would be implemented as per the report of the tax reforms high level committee. Revenue administration will have better capacity and professionalism.

Uniformity was maintained in the excise duty by evaluating it with other countries.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday chaired the last meeting of the outgoing Union cabinet which recommended dissolution of the 17th Lok Sabha, setting in motion the process of formation of the next government after the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) won a narrow majority in the Lok Sabha.

PM Modi drove down to Rashtrapati Bhavan to call on President Droupadi Murmu soon after.

“The Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi, met the President today and tendered his resignation along with the Council of Ministers. The President has accepted the resignation and requested Shri Narendra Modi and the Council of Ministers to continue till the new Government assumes office,” a Rashtrapati Bhavan communique said.

People familiar with the matter said the cabinet meeting to recommend dissolution of the Lok Sabha was held at the prime minister’s residence at about 11:30am.

The term of the current 17th Lok Sabha ends on June 16.

At 293 seats, the NDA is comfortably above the majority mark of 272 in the 543-member Lok Sabha. The BJP, which secured 240 seats, had fallen short of the halfway mark for the first time since 2014, and is dependent on its allies for government formation.

Bihar chief minister and Janata Dal (United) or JD(U) leader Nitish Kumar, Maharashtra CM and Shiv Sena chief Eknath Shinde and N Chandrababu Naidu, the head of the Telugu Desam Party (TDP), have already reached New Delhi to attend the meeting of the NDA later in the day.

The three are key to the BJP’s numbers to form the government. The TDP won 16 Lok Sabha seats (its partner the Jana Sena won two; so it should be counted as 18); the JD(U), 12; and the Shiv Sena, 7. The 37 seats, added to the BJP’s 240, will take the party safely beyond the majority mark of 272.

The NDA meeting will coincide with that of the Opposition’s INDIA’s bloc, which won 233 seats despite being written off in the exit polls.

Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister, Rabi Lamichhane said that the government has been trying to solve the difficulties seen in obtaining citizenship.

Inaugurating a program ' Discussion on citizenship and citizenship related issues' organized by the Home Ministry today, Deputy Prime Minister Lamichhane shared that the government was effortful to ensure citizen's constitutional rights of acquiring citizenship certificates.

"Citizens should not be deprived of constitutional rights of obtaining citizenship. Efforts are underway to remove complexities related to acquiring citizenship by formulating procedures. It is the duty and responsibility of the government to prepare laws related to citizenship addressing the complexities related to obtaining citizenship", he underlined.

Stating that the ministry has started discussions with stakeholders regarding the various issues of citizenship acquiring keeping its duty and responsibility towards the citizens in mind, the Home Minister expressed the belief that problems related to citizenship could be resolved if conclusions of the discussions with stakeholders could be included in the procedure.

The Home Ministry has been facilitating the protection of the rights of citizens, who can get citizenship by the Constitution, existing laws and rules  apart from those prohibited by laws, explained DPM Lamichhane.

He recalled that he, not only from the position of Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister, had been raising voices about the problems facing the citizens to acquire citizenship when he was working as a media person.

Saying suggestions received from discussions with experts and stakeholders would be crucial for the government, the Home Minister expected that improvements to be made in the implementation system would be a guideline for the government.

"Laws and procedures related to citizenship should be revised by including suggestions received from discussions", he explained, adding discussion related to citizenship would be held in four sessions in the program.

The National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority has introduced the 'Monsoon Preparedness and Response Plan 2081 BS'.

At a press conference held on Wednesday, the Authority announced that the implementation of the Plan will commence with the onset of the monsoon and continue until it ends.

The 23rd executive committee meeting of the Authority presided over by Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Home Affairs Lamichhane on June 3 endorsed the Plan. 

According to the Plan, it is estimated that 181,000 people and over 400,000 households will be affected by monsoon-related activities this year.

Anil Pokhrel, the Executive Chief of the Authority, shared that during the execution of the Plan, meteorological forecasts will be obtained for the upcoming week, three days, and the day prior, and preparedness and response measures will be carried out accordingly.

Furthermore, the cooperation of various ministries and organizations will be sought to ensure the effective implementation of preparedness and response efforts.