By Our Reporter
Political parties have started gearing up for the upcoming general elections which are likely to be held in November immediately after the festival season ends.
Leaders of the major parties have said that the elections will be held in November. Nepali Congress general secretary Gagan Kumar Thapa said the other day that the elections to the House of Representatives and Provincial Assemblies would be held in November. Speaking in Tanahun, he said the coalition parties will finalise their constituency by mid-August.
Two weeks earlier, CPN-Maoist Centre chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal had also said that the elections would be held in November. Although the media once reported that Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba was willing to hold the polls in February next year owing to the escalating enmity seen by the rival factions in the party in the May 30 local elections.
The term of the present House of Representatives and provincial assemblies expires in February because all election processes held as per the new constitution had concluded only in February 2018 although the elections were held in November 2017. As holding polls in winter—from December to mid-February is impossible in high Himalayan regions of Nepal, the elections are most probably likely in November.
The Election Commission has already started updating the voters’ list for the general elections while the main opposition CPN-UML wants the polls to be held in November. As such, Prime Minister Deuba is likely to announce the election date by the first week of August.
All eying towards general elections, both province assembly and federal parliament elections are likely to be held after the Tihar and Chhat festival. However, Minister Met Mani Chaudhary said on Tuesday that the government was planning to hold the elections on December 7. But holding polls in December in some mountainous districts looks impossible as they receive snow in December.
Is the Left alliance possible?
Political parties, especially a section in the CPN-Maoist Centre, Jhalanath Khanal of the CPN (Unified Socialist) Bam Dev Gautam and a few leaders of the CPN-UML are exercising for forging a left alliance before the upcoming general elections. While a dispute has surfaced in the ruling Maoist Centre regarding the current alliance of the party with the Nepali Congress, Chinese leaders are reportedly working to bring the communists together. Recently, a Chinese team met Pushpa Kamal Dahal of the Maoist Centre and KP Sharma Oli of the CPN-UML.
Even Oli has floated the idea of left unity excluding Madhav Kumar Nepal although in public he is against any left unity.
While Dahal may not join Oli leaving Nepal helpless, Oli has also asked Dahal to withdraw the 19-point accusations he labelled against Oli, which Dahal had outright rejected. And any left alliance would not work without having Dahal in it.
Former UML leader Bam Dev Gautam announced a new party on Tuesday and said the goal of his party is to unify the left forces.
However, the ego of Oli and his intolerable attitude toward Madhav Kumar Nepal are likely to prevent the communist parties together, at least before the general elections.
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