[caption id="attachment_47887" align="alignnone" width="960"]File Photo of the ruling alliance File Photo of the ruling alliance[/caption] By Our Reporter  Even two weeks after the five ruling parties formed a seat-sharing task force to divide the seats of the House of Representatives and the Provincial Assemblies among them, the task force has not taken any decision because of the bargaining for more seats by the parties in the ruling coalition. The task force and the top leaders of the ruling parties have been holding meetings at the Baluwatar residence of Prime Minister Deuba almost every day, and every meeting concludes by deciding to hold another meeting the next day. On Tuesday, they decided to finalise the issue by Tuesday, but they did nothing in that direction as of Tuesday evening. Although the coordinator of the task force Krishna Sitaual was to submit a modality of seat division to the top leaders, no such report has been submitted so far. It is said that as the parties continue bargaining for more seats, the ruling leaders have not yet entered the issues of seat sharing. Of the five parties in the ruling alliance, the Maoist Centre and the CPN (Unified Socialist) are bargaining for more seats. While the Maoist Centre has demanded at least 50 seats, the Unified Socialist is also demanding 40 of the 165 seats which are elected under the first-past-the-post system. Although Rastriya Janamorcha will be satisfied with a single seat, Janata Samajwadi Party-Nepal will not agree with less than 20 seats. When the four parties will take 111 seats, Nepali Congress is left with only 55 seats. Of course, NC is demanding 60 per cent seats considering its strength, which means at least 100 seats, and the remaining four parties will be dividing 65 seats among them. Moreover, the Maoist Centre and Unified Socialist are not in a position to win even three seats each on their own. As such their bargaining looks unusual, but NC president Sher Bahadur Deuba is ready to give them as many as 75 seats, taking 90 seats for NC. It may not be a surprise if Deuba agrees to take only 85 seats and give 80 to other parties, because he is more dependent on Pushpa Kamal Dahal and Madhav Nepal than the leaders within NC to ensure his continuity as the PM even after the polls. Oli in difficult situation due to the ruling alliance CPN-UML chair KP Sharma Oli is now under pressure as the ruling parties continue to corner him. Now he has no option but to contest the November 20 polls alone or by forging an alliance with smaller parties like Rastriya Prajatantra Party. Even the Loktantrik Samajwadi Party of Mahantha Thakur is not willing to forge alliance with Oli. If the ruling parties forge an electoral alliance and if they honestly implement it, the CPN-UML candidates may not win even 10 seats under the first-past-the-post electoral system. Even Oli himself will not be safe in Jhapa unless he is backed by the RPP. With the election approaching nearer and in lack of election issues, Oli seems unstable and he has started making harsh comments against the leaders of the ruling parties. Now he is planning to use the Citizenship Bill as a nationalist weapon by making the President resign over the issue. But people will not believe him because he had earlier issued a similar ordinance on citizenship which was issued by the president immediately. Obviously, UML has a strong organisation base in the hills. But after a split, it has become weaker in many districts. And if the NC, Maoist Centre and the Unified Socialist stand together, UML will be left behind. Even the local level elections have shown its weakening positions in its strongholds like Ilam and Pachthar. Because of the dissolution of the Houses twice, the party may not win elections in the urban areas whereas in the Tarai it has always fared poorly. And when it does not win elections in the Tarai and urban areas like Kathmandu where more seats are, the party is likely to turn smaller, probably third behind the NC and the Maoist Centre in the House of Representatives. Although Oli on Tuesday instructed the party leaders in the standing committee meeting on Tuesday to work in such a way that the party could form a majority government after the polls, in reality, the UML will be smaller than the present-day NC in the parliament.