By Our Reporter
As the election date is nearing, parties in the ruling alliance have started bargaining for more seats. While the Nepali Congress is seeking 60 per cent of the seats in the Federal Parliament, CPN-Maoist Centre chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal has been using all his might to limit the NC with 80 of the 165 seats of the Lower House.
Dahal clearly intends to prevent NC from garnering majority seats in the Lower House, so that he will have the role of kingmaker in government formation. If the NC wins 90 seats in the First-Past-The-Post system, it can garner majority seats because NC can win over 50 seats under the proportional system as the CPN-UML has become weak after its split.
Because of the bargaining of the smaller parties, a meeting of the seat-sharing task force of the five ruling parties held on Monday concluded without taking any decision.
The ruling parties have formed a Taskforce under NC leader Krishna Sitaula to divide the seats among the parties.
The meeting held at Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba’s official residence in Baluwatar concluded by agreeing to hold another meeting on Wednesday.
After the meeting, task force member and government spokesperson Gyanendra Bahadur Karki informed that seat-sharing among five parties would be done based on the votes received under the proportional electoral system of the 2017 election and the votes of the recent local polls. However, the Maoist Centre and the CPN (Unified Socialist) may not agree on the modality as it favours the NC.
Shekhar Koirala demands 40 per cent ticket for his faction
At a time when the ruling parties are bracing to divide the seats of the House of Representatives and the Provincial Assemblies among them, the Shekhar Koirala faction in the Nepali Congress has exerted pressure on the leadership demanding 40 per cent of the seats to the leaders loyal to him. Koirala is popular among rank and file and supporters of NC although technically Sher Bahadur Deuba enjoys a comfortable majority in the central committee. It is evident from the votes he received in the 14th general convention. But the establishment faction has undermined the strength of the faction and has been suppressing it by not giving space in the party organisations, prompting Koirala to seek a 40 per cent share in the poll. If the establishment faction continues to suppress the Koirala group, the election could be costly for NC.
Although Koirala had earlier said that he would not seek a share in the party, after Deuba started forming sister organisations excluding the leaders loyal to Koirala, he started raising the demand for a 40 per cent share in elections. And if the establishment denies his demand, the camp may not cooperate with the candidates close to Deuba leading to their defeats in the elections.
Thus, Deuba is under pressure to satisfy not only the parties in the ruling alliance but also the rival leaders within the party.
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