The ruling coalition has agreed on seat-sharing arrangements for upcoming federal and provincial elections, which have been declared for November 20.

A meeting of the ruling coalition on Friday agreed to go to the polls under an electoral alliance.

“The parties in the coalition have decided to form a task force to split seats among them for the upcoming polls,” said Narayan Kaji Shrestha, a senior CPN (Maoist Centre) leader.

The Nepali Congress-led coalition has Maoist Centre, CPN (Unified Socialist), Janata Samajbadi Party and Rastriya Janamorcha as partners.

As per the recommendation of the task force, the alliance partners will split the seats, according to a Nepali Congress leader.

On November 20, Nepal will vote to elect 275 members for the House of Representatives—165 under the direct election system and 110 under the proportional representation (PR) system. Simultaneously, 550 members for the seven provincial assemblies will be elected—330 under the direct election system and 220 under the PR system.

The ruling coalition took the decision to form the task force for seat-sharing on Friday, a day after the government announced November 20 for the general and provincial elections.

The top leadership will finalise seat-sharing after the task force submits its recommendation.

Insiders in all the coalition partners say seat-sharing is going to be a tough task.

The Congress wants to keep at least 100, out of 165 under the direct election system for the House of Representatives, while the coalition partners are seeking at least 80 for them.