Four major political parties in the dissolved House of Representatives are set to partner for the upcoming National Assembly election set for January 25.

On March 4, eighteen National Assembly members or one third of the 59-strong upper house will retire. Such retirements happen biennially, and elections are held to fill the vacant seats.

And now negotiations are underway between the Nepali Congress, the CPN-UML, the Nepali Communist Party, and a front of Madhes-based parties for the January 25 election.

According to the leaders from the Congress, UML and NCP, cross-party negotiations continue to split the 18 vacant seats among the Congress, UML, Nepali Communist Party and Janata Samajbadi Party Nepal at the rate of seven, six, four and one seats, respectively.

Congress leaders said they will finalise their candidates on Tuesday. On Monday evening, Congress leaders including Vice President Purna Bahadur Khadka, and senior leaders Ramesh Lekhak and Krishna Prasad Situala; and UML Chairman KP Oli and General Secretary Shankar Pokharel, among others, held talks on seat-sharing arrangement. The UML has also summoned a meeting of party Secretariat for Tuesday to finalise its candidates.

As per the election schedule, all 18 candidates have to file their nominations on Wednesday.

During the Congress central work execution committee meeting on Monday, party vice president Khadka had briefed that political forces who were part of the constitution-making process have decided to come together for the National Assembly election. Khadka, on behalf of Congress chief Sher Bahadur Deuba, held talks with Oli on Monday and discussed how to jointly move forward.

“There is also an ongoing discussion between the Congress and UML to forge an alliance for upcoming parliamentary elections, but no decision has been reached,” a Congress leader privy to the matter told the Post. “The possibility of an electoral alliance between the Congress and UML has also been discussed several times in the past.”

As per records at the parliament secretariat, the highest number of retiring lawmakers, 8, are from the UML. It is followed by the CPN (Maoist Centre) [currently Nepali Communist Party], whose seven members complete their terms in the next four years. An upper house member has a six-year tenure.

One member each from the CPN (Unified Socialist), the Janata Samajbadi Party-Nepal and the Loktantrik Samajbadi Party are also retiring in March, but the Congress, the second largest party in the upper house, has no member retiring on that date.

Leaders said discussions on an electoral alliance between three parties have started. Leaders from Congress and UML had held a series of discussions on seat allocation for the upper house. Later, the Nepali Communist Party, a new political front formed by several communist parties including the then CPN (Maoist Centre), also expressed its desire to join the alliance, prompting renegotiations among the parties, Congress and UML leaders told the Post.

Congress spokesman Prakash Sharan Mahat said parties are in the final stage on seat-sharing arrangements for the National Assembly election. “If we do not tie up, it will be difficult to win even a single seat,” he told the media.

“We will fix our candidates by Tuesday.”

Deuba and UML chair Oli first reached an agreement on seat-sharing in the upper house. Later, Nepali Communist Party coordinator Pushpa Kamal Dahal met both leaders to discuss seat adjustments among the four parties.

While 18 members will be chosen by an electoral college, one member will be nominated by the President on the government’s recommendation.

The constitution envisions the National Assembly as a permanent chamber of Parliament. The lower house was dissolved on September 12 in the wake of the Gen Z movement.

An electoral college of the provincial assembly members and the heads and deputies of municipalities and rural municipalities will vote to elect upper house members. They carry different electoral weights. The Election Commission has set the electoral weight for provincial assembly members at 53, while the weight for local government heads and deputies is 19.