Koshi Province Chief Parshuram Khapung to retire after full term
Koshi Province Chief Parshuram Khapung will step down on November 10 after completing his five-year term, which Setopati says makes him the first province chief to do so.
Koshi Province Chief Parshuram Khapung is set to complete his five-year term on November 10, 2026, which would make him the first province chief to serve a full term, according to Setopati. Ahead of his departure, Chief Minister Hikmat Kumar Karki visited him at the province chief's office in Biratnagar on Sunday to bid him farewell.
According to reports from Kharibot, Onlinekhabar and DC Nepal, Karki thanked Khapung for his contribution to the province's development and praised the role he played in strengthening constitutional and legal arrangements. Khapung, who took office on November 11, 2021, thanked the provincial government for its support and cooperation during his tenure.
A rare tenure in a volatile political landscape
The Constitution of Nepal provides a five-year term for province chiefs, but the post has seen frequent turnover. Setopati writes that Khapung stayed in office through six changes in the leadership of the federal government and several shifts in ruling alliances, including ones involving the Nepali Congress, the CPN (Maoist Centre) and the CPN (UML).
Khapung was appointed on the recommendation of the then-government led by Sher Bahadur Deuba, which included Upendra Yadav's Janata Samajbadi Party Nepal (JSP). Setopati names the party that recommended him as the main reason he kept the post, and adds that his own balanced conduct helped to some extent. After the JSP split, leaders on both sides say he has kept balanced relations with each. JSP leader Jayaram Yadav told Setopati that Khapung's performance as province chief had been very good and fitting for the post, and that his term therefore did not become controversial.
Critics, Setopati notes, also call him an opportunist. The same report traces his earlier path from left-wing politics to the Rastriya Prajatantra Party and, later, through Baburam Bhattarai's Naya Shakti into the JSP.
Per DC Nepal, the constitution bars someone who has spent five years as province chief in a province from holding the post there again. Setopati adds that the role is mainly constitutional and ceremonial, with most functions carried out on the advice and consent of the provincial cabinet, except where the constitution or law gives the chief discretion.