Nepali Congress, the largest party in the federal parliament, has decided to continue its alliance with the coalition partners in the next month’s National Assembly elections.

The three-day central working committee meeting of the party that concluded Saturday decided to field common candidates of the ruling parties for the January 25 elections. The top leaders of the ruling parties have already started informal discussions on the sharing of candidacies. They are set to reach a conclusion within a few days.

“A meeting of the ruling parties has been scheduled for Tuesday to formulate strategies for the National Assembly elections,” Ramesh Lekhak, the Congress chief whip, told the Post. “It will also discuss seat-sharing."

Terms of 20 members of the upper house including its chairperson, Ganesh Prasad Timilsina, expire on March 3. As one of them was nominated by the President on the government’s recommendation, the Election Commission is conducting elections for the remaining 19 seats.

Besides Timilsina and Bimala Rai Poudyal, who was nominated by the President, seven lawmakers whose terms expire in March are from the CPN-UML. With 17 seats, the UML is the largest party in the assembly. Similarly, four of such lawmakers are from the Congress, three from the CPN (Maoist Centre), two from the CPN (Unified Socialist) and one from the Janata Samajbadi Party. Khim Lal Devkota, an independent lawmaker, is also on the list.

The top leaders from the ruling parties said while all the parties will field their candidates for the seats they currently hold, the seats occupied by the UML will be distributed among the ruling parties. The Congress aims for half of the total 20 seats. The Maoist Centre and the Unified Socialist are demanding seven and four seats, respectively. The Janata Samajbadi Party is claiming two, while other ruling parties—Janamat Party, Loktantrik Samajbadi Party and the Nagarik Unmukti Party— stake a claim for at least one seat each.

The fringe parties have already presented their claim before Prime Minister and Maoist Centre Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal.

Rajendra Pandey, vice-chair of the Unified Socialist, said it is natural for the parties to claim as many seats as possible. “However, such claims should be realistic and practical,” he told the Post. “Seat distribution will be finalised by Wednesday.”

Pandey said the nine seats that the UML is currently holding, will be fairly distributed among the ruling parties.

The UML will have a tough battle if the ruling alliance remains intact and puts forth common candidates. The country’s upper house has 59 members. Of them, 56 are elected, and three are nominated by the President on the recommendation of the Council of Ministers. Each of the seven provinces elects eight members, including women and representatives from marginalised communities and those with disabilities.

Terms of the current members of the Assembly were determined by drawing lots—for two years, four years and six years. The tenure of the first lot of 19 lawmakers ended on March 4, 2020 while the second lot retired on March 4 last year. The last upper house election was held on January 26, 2022. The upcoming vote will elect the lawmakers who had six years of tenure when the Assembly was freshly formed.

Surya Aryal, assistant spokesman for the commission, said among the 13 parties that have representation in the House of Representatives, 12 have registered for the polls. The commission has already set up the poll offices in each province. Nominations for the election will be filed on January 7 and the election symbols given on January 12. The candidates will have 10 days for campaigning.

Among the total vacancies, four are from Bagmati Province, three each from Gandaki, Karnali and Sudurpaschim provinces, and two each from Koshi, Madhesh and Lumbini. The upcoming elections will fill the vacant positions based on provincial clusters.

An electoral college of provincial assembly members, chairpersons and vice-chairpersons of rural municipalities, and mayor and deputy mayors of municipalities, metropolis and sub-metropolis, votes to elect the members.

As many as 549 provincial assembly members and 1,504 chiefs and their deputies of the local units are eligible to vote in the upper house election. However, one position each of a provincial assembly member, a few chairpersons and vice-chairpersons of rural municipalities are vacant. Their votes have a combined weightage of 57,559.