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House of Representative members elected from the by-elections Rabi Lamichhane and Swarnim Wagle took the oath of office and secrecy on Friday. Speaker Devraj Ghimire administered the oath of office and secrecy to Lamichhane and Wagle amidst a program organized in Singha Durbar this morning. Lamichhane was elected from Chitwan-2 and Wagle from Tanahun-1. The by-election in Chitwan-2 was held after the Supreme Court scrapped Rastriya Swatantra Party President Lamichhane’s lawmaker post saying that he had never applied to reclaim his Nepali citizenship after renouncing his American citizenship. Similarly, the by-election in Tanahun-1 was held after Nepali Congress lawmaker Ram Chandra Paudel was elected as the President of the country. Meanwhile, Janata Samajbadi Party Chairman Upendra Yadav, who was elected from Bara-2, did not take part in the swearing in ceremony.    

Karnali Province Chief Minister Raj Kumar Sharma is seeking a vote of confidence on Friday. Chief Minister Sharma is seeking a vote of confidence from the National Province Assembly after the CPN-UML withdrew the support extended to the government. He is scheduled to take a vote of confidence at 3 pm in the Province Assembly meeting. Nepali Congress, CPN (Maoist Center) and CPN (Unified Socialist) are preparing to give a vote of confidence to Chief Minister Sharma. In the 40-member Province Assembly, Nepali Congress has 14 lawmakers, CPN (Maoist Center) 13 and CPN (Unified Socialist) one. It has been learnt that independent lawmaker Devendra Bahadur Shahi, who was elected from Jumla, will also give a trust vote of the provincial government. CPN (Maoist Center) Parliamentary Party leader Sharma was appointed as the chief minister on January 11. He was appointed as the chief minister with support of CPN-UML, CPN (Unified Socialist) and Rastriya Prajatantra Party. Sharma sought a vote of confidence for the first time on January 20. He sought a vote of confidence for the second time on March 31 after the Rastriya Prajatantra Party withdrew support extended to the government.  

Nepali Congress Parliamentary Party leader Dilli Bahadur Chaudhary has been appointed as the chief minister of Lumbini Province. He had submitted a claim for the chief ministership with the support of 53 lawmakers of eight political parties today itself. Province Chief Amik Sherchan appointed him as the chief minister with the support of a majority of lawmakers as per Article 168 (2) of the Constitution. Sherchan had called on parties to stake claim for the chief minister as per Article 168 (2) of the Constitution after Lumbini Province Chief Minister Leela Giri failed to secure a vote of confidence. The Province Chief office said that Chaudhary will be administered the oath of office and secrecy on Friday.    

Australian Ambassador to Nepal Felicity Volk paid a courtesy call on Minister for Foreign Affairs NP Saud on Thursday. The meeting focused on expanding bilateral cooperation, especially people to people relations, tourism and education sectors, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said.