Ruling parties agree on seats allocation

By A Staff Reporter,Kathmandu, Jan. 7: Ruling political parties on Saturday agreed on allocation of candidacies for National Assembly (NA) elections to be held on January 25.  However, the parties agreed to sit again on Sunday to finalise the candidacies to be shared among them. 

“Out of 19 vacant seats of the NA, Nepali Congress will file candidacy on10 seats, CPN-MC on six, CPN (Unified Socialist) on two and Janata Samajbadi Party on one,” said Barshaman Pun Ananta, Deputy General Secretary of the CPN-MC.   

Earlier, a meeting of the ruling parties held on Saturday afternoon took decision to allocate candidacies for the 19 NA seats among themselves.

Discussion was held among top leaders of the ruling alliance at the official residence of the Prime Minister, Baluwatar, thereby agreeing to reach conclusion on seat allocation among the ruling parties, said NC leader Ramesh Lekhak.

Discussion was also held on the issue of coordinating with the main opposition party, CPN (UML), shared leader Lekhak.

However, the CPN (UML) has announced to file candidacies in all vacant posts in the NA elections. After the UML’s announcement, an agreement was reached among the alliance parties to go for NA election, allocating seats among the alliance parties, he explained.

“Although discussion was held to take together the opposition parties in NA Assembly as a broader democratic practice, it was not possible for the time being', he said.

“Meanwhile, the meeting held Saturday evening concluded without making final decision about seat allocation among ruling political parties. The party leaders concluded to continue efforts to forge consensus on NA seats,” leader of CPN (Unified Socialist) said talking to journalists.  

Prime Minister and CPN (Maoist Centre) Chair, Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’, NC President Sher Bahadur Deuba, and CPN (Unified Socialist) Chair Madhav Kumar Nepal, as well as other top leaders were present in the meeting.   The NA election is taking place on January 25.