KATHMANDU: The process to decide on the no-confidence motion against Bahadur Singh Lama, leader of the Nepali Congress parliamentary party in Bagmati Province, will begin from Monday.

A parliamentary party meeting has been called for 1 PM to discuss the motion.

As per party rules, the presence of a central observer is mandatory to initiate the process.

Congress central committee member Rajan KC has been appointed as the observer for this purpose.

KC informed that the motion process will begin at the Monday meeting.

He added that efforts will first be made to resolve the issue through consensus, and only if that fails will the formal procedure be advanced.

Out of 37 Congress provincial lawmakers in Bagmati, 21 have signed in favor of the no-confidence motion against Lama, who is also the province’s Chief minister.

The motion was registered on July 25 under the leadership of Congress Bagmati President and Assembly Member Indra Bahadur Baniya. Both Lama and Baniya are aligned with party president Sher Bahadur Deuba.

In the first phase, the motion will be debated and decided by a vote. If passed, the process of electing a new parliamentary party leader will commence. The date for the internal party election will then be fixed.

According to Congress parliamentary rules, the leader must be elected through a secret ballot and must secure more than 50% of the total votes.

Since the parliamentary party leader also becomes the Chief Minister, whoever wins the internal election will lead the government, said KC.

Earlier, CM Lama had already dismissed four ministers who signed the motion against him.

In the previous party leader election, Lama had secured 21 votes while Baniya had received 16.