For the five parties in the ruling coalition, taking a decision to fight elections under an alliance may not have been that difficult. But as seat-sharing discussions are underway, there seems to be a realisation that there are many facets and multitudes of challenges.

There are some constituencies which key leaders of the coalition partners may not want to give up.

Bishwa Prakash Sharma, general secretary of the Nepali Congress, has already decided to contest from Jhapa-1. In the 2017 polls, CPN (Maoist Centre) leader Ram Karki had defeated Sharma in that constituency. The Maoist Centre had then fought the elections in alliance with the CPN-UML. Now, the Congress and the Maoist Centre, along with CPN (Unified Socialist), Janata Samajbadi Party and Rastriya Janamorcha, have teamed up against the UML.

Besides splitting the 165 seats for direct election among the partners, one major challenge for them will be managing the aspirants.

Will Karki leave Jhapa-1 for Sharma? Or where will he contest from?

Karki and Sharma’s case is just one example.

In Tanahun-1, Krishna Kumar Shrestha (Keesan) defeated Congress senior leader Ram Chandra Poudel. Shrestha was contesting from the UML. But when the UML split in August, he joined Madhav Nepal’s Unified Socialist, a partner in the coalition.

Poudel is willing to contest the election from the constituency, and Shrestha also has shown his interest.

In Sindhupalchok-1, Mohan Basnet of the Congress has said he will not leave his constituency for anyone this time. Agni Sapokta of the Maoist Centre won the last elections from the very constituency. He is currently the House Speaker but is likely to contest from there again.

Two key leaders from the ruling coalition are eying Doti—Unified Socialist’s Prem Ale and Congress’ Bir Bahadur Balayar, who also presides over the Nepali Congress Sudurpaschim provincial committee.

Ale had won the last election on the UML ticket.

Balayar has staked his claim to the candidacy citing that the Congress won more than two thirds of local government chiefs in the recently concluded polls.

Observers say tension may be building in the ruling coalition given the multiple claims in some constituencies.

“Managing candidacies in such constituencies will be a tough nut to crack for the coalition leadership,” said Uddhab Pyakurel, an assistant professor of Political Sociology at Kathmandu University.

The Maoist Centre had won 36 constituencies in the elections held five years ago because it managed to defeat Congress candidates with the UML’s support.

Now those defeated candidates may not want to leave their constituencies for the Maoist Centre just because the party is a coalition partner.

The Unified Socialist did not exist then, but those in the party who won under the UML’s ticket too had defeated the Congress.

According to Pyakurel, the Congress, the Maoist Centre and the Unified Socialist are under the compulsion to fight the elections together, but in many constituencies, there are claimants from all three parties.

Puranjan Acharya, a political analyst, says even practically, the ruling coalition is not finding proper bases and as some coalition parties' leaders remain adamant on fighting from a certain constituency, it is in real trouble.

According to him, the high number of votes which the Congress expects to shift or transfer to partner candidates is impractical as other parties’ candidates hold fewer votes to fight against the UML.

“Other parties have leading votes in only a handful of areas, which has made the decision-making regarding candidacies tough,” said Acharya.

Failure to effectively manage candidates could lead to disappointment among cadres and leaders, observers say.

Also, unhappy leaders from the ruling coalition could support other parties in the polls, according to Pyakurel.

“To maintain their grip on their local constituency, they could deceive their own party. Dealing in constituencies to give political space to other parties’ leaders, ignoring the main [local] candidate of the region would lead to trouble,” said Pyakurel.

Acharya foresees a similar problem.

“The Congress, which leads the ruling coalition, could lose much public support and disappoint its key leaders if it has to cede constituencies for coalition leaders,” he said.

Coalition party leaders, however, say problems regarding candidacies will be solved, even though they agree that some key leaders have shown their interests in the same constituencies.

Chandra Bhandari, a Nepali Congress leader, said that only a handful of leaders wield the ultimate power in the political parties.

“As there is a chance of becoming a lawmaker and further a minister from the proportional system, I don’t think there will be any conflict,” he said, referring to the situation of candidates leaving such contested candidates in exchange for a proportional representation seat.

Maoist Centre chief whip Dev Gurung is hopeful that the top leaders will solve the problems that arise regarding the candidates.

“They have sorted out bigger problems. In a multiparty system, problems emerge among the parties in an alliance. The top leadership will definitely sort the problems out,” Gurung told the Post. “All other leaders will have to abide by the decisions of the top leadership.”