Nepal's ruling alliance divide seats for upcoming National Assembly Polls

A meeting of Nepal's ruling coalition has struck a deal to divide seats for the upcoming National Assembly polls.

A meeting of Nepal's ruling coalition has struck a deal to divide seats for the upcoming National Assembly polls. As per the deal sealed on Monday after a meeting at Prime Minister Official residence, Nepali Congress has been allotted the highest number of candidates to contest in the upcoming election to fill the seats of the upper house.

"Six seats have been allocated to the Nepali Congress (NC), five each to Communist Party of Nepal- Maoist Center and Communist Party of Nepal- Unified Socialist whereas two have been allotted to JanataSamajbadi Party and one to RastriyaJanamorcha out of the total 20 seats that are turning vacant from 5th March 2022," former PM Jhala Nath Khanal said. However, the agreement is yet to be reached on the one seat towards nominations.

As per the lucky draw made earlier, the tenure of eight members of the upper house from the opposition Communist Party of Nepal- Unified Marxist-Leninist (CPN-UML), four members from CPN-US and CPN-Maoist Center, and 3 members from Nepali Congress is set to expire while one seat has been reserved for nomination by the president. Election for the respective seats will be held only in the respective constituency.

The National Assembly consists of a total of 59 members with a maximum of six years term. Since the NA is a permanent chamber, the term of one-third of its members expires every two years. For the first time, the lottery was held to decide the term of NA members. Accordingly, the term of 19 NA members had been completed in the first two years and elections were held to fill the first lot of vacant seats.

Similarly, the four-year term of another one-third of the national assembly members (20 NA members), including the vice-chairperson, is to come to an end on March 5, 2022. The term of the remaining 20 others will expire in the next two years. The constitutional provision mandates that the election should be held 35 days before the expiration of the term of office of NA members. Accordingly, the Election Commission has fixed the date for the election on January 26.

The Province Assembly members, the Chair and Vice-chair of the rural municipalities, the mayors and deputy mayors of municipalities, sub-metropolitan cities, and the metropolitan cities are the voters in the NA election. There are a total of 2025 voters to cast a ballot in the NA election. (ANI)

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