Editor's Pick 3-man Cabinet in, polls top priority

Chief Justice Khil Raj Regmi was sworn in Chairman of the Interim Election Government at the President’s Office in Sheetal Niwas on Thursday. President Ram Baran Yadav administrated the oath of office to Regmi in the presence of top leaders of the major political parties, diplomats and senior government and security officials. If his post as head of the executive is to be considered prime minister, Chairman Regmi will be Nepal’s 36th PM.
Regmi later administered the oath of office to Madhav Prasad Ghimire as Home and Foreign Affairs Minister and Hari Prasad Neupane as Minister for Law and Justice and Minister for Labour and Transport Management. Ghimire is a former chief secretary, while Neupane served as Vice-chairman of the Law Reform Commission. While Regmi and Ghimire hail from Palpa district, Neupane comes from Gulmi.
After the oath, Regmi reached Singha Durbar and assumed office. He directed government secretaries to focus on elections as per the schedule and appealed to dissenting political parties to stop their agitation. According to one secretary, Chief Secretary Leela Mani Poudel advised Regmi to make appointments to the Election Commission at the earliest to bring the nation on the election campaign. “If we cannot fill positions in the EC within 15 days, the situation will not be favourable to timely elections,” Poudel reportedly said.