Kalimpong, Aug. 11: The councillors of the Kalimpong Municipality today carried out a no-confidence motion against their chairman C.K. Kumai of the GNLF.

Of the 23 councillors, 20 attended the meeting chaired by Norden Lama, the chairman-elect of the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha.

The three who abstained were Kumai himself, K.H. Subba, the vice-chairman, and Aditya Rai. All three had resigned as councillors on July 30.

After the emergence of the Morcha in September last year, 14 councillors resigned from the GNLF and switched allegiance to the new party. Six others followed suit.

The Morcha councillors had requisitioned a meeting on July 24 in which they declared that they no longer had any confidence in Kumai. The voting for the no-confidence motion took place today.

Lama told reporters that he and the other councillors would meet on Wednesday to decide on what to do with the three resignations.

He said that his chairing today’s meeting was “within the law.” “Only when we elect the new chairman will we need a government representative.”

Today’s meeting was, however, attended by Y.L. Sherpa, the executive officer of the municipality.

“It is a shame that Kumai had to go in this manner. It would have been an honourable exit for him if he realised the writing on the wall earlier and put in his papers instead of playing hide and seek with us for all these months,” Lama said. Kumai was not available for comment.