Janakpur established as Province 2 permanent capital; voting underway to pick province name

KATHMANDU: Province 2 has passed the proposal to establish Janakpur as its permanent capital while the voting is being held at the Province Assembly (PA) meeting to finalise the name of the province. Out of 99 PA members present at the meeting held earlier today, 68 members voted for Janakpur as the province's permanent capital, Province Policy and Planning Commission member, Pramila Kumari Singh told Business 360. A special committee formed under the leadership of PA Speaker Saroj Kumar Yadav had discussed with the leaders of the parliamentary parties about the proposal of the province name — Madhes, Janaki, Mithila Bhojpura, Madhya Madhes.  The PA members had proposed Janakpur and Birgunj as the permanent capital of the province. The committee formed to study the name and permanent capital of the province submitted its report to the PA meeting on Sunday. Meanwhile, the ruling Janata Samajbadi Party and the CPN Maoist centre have proposed Madhes Pradesh as the province name. The main opposition party, Samajwadi Party (Democratic) has backed the proposal. Adding the number of members of the three parties in the 104-member PA forms 63 members only. But 70 PA members are needed to pass the resolution. Apparently, the support of seven other members is necessary to pass a joint resolution on the province name brought by the three parties. Likewise, the ruling CPN (Unified Socialist) Party and the opposition CPN (UML) have proposed Janaki as the name of the province. Both the parties have 21 members in the PA. Similarly, Nepali Congress which has proposed the name Mithila Bhojpura has 19 members in the PA. Apart from this, Rajeshwar Prasad Sah of the Nepali Congress has proposed the name Madhya Madhes. The calculation of numbers needed for the majority support shows that Sah has to be supported by either the Nepali Congress, the CPN (Unified Socialist Party) or the UML. However, political analyst Devnarayan Yadav said that the proposal will not be passed since no two-thirds majority could be reached in the current situation. He said the possibility of passing the nomination proposal is slim, as all the parties have their own stand on the name of the Province. "It is difficult to finalise the issue of naming until there is consensus among the parties," said Yadav. READ ALSO:

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