The bonhomie between the leaders of the ruling coalition and the main opposition CPN-UML over jointly contesting the upcoming elections for 19 National Assembly seats has been short-lived.

Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal, Nepali Congress President Sher Bahadur Deuba and CPN-UML chair KP Sharma Oli held several rounds of talks to divide the seats and together contest the upper house elections.

The top leaders’ plan to share seats among the three big parties was severely criticised within the parties as well as by independent observers.

After negotiations with the UML fell through, the ruling alliance held marathon talks on Saturday evening to settle the dispute but failed to narrow down differences, said party leaders.

The term of 20 lawmakers in the 59-strong upper house expires on March 3. While 19 seats will be filled through elections, one member will be nominated by the President at the Cabinet’s recommendation. The election is slated for January 25.

The largest party, Nepali Congress, initially claimed 13 seats. The CPN (Maoist Centre) is looking for seven, the CPN (Unified Socialist) wants five seats including the chair while the Janata Samajbadi Party seeks four seats. The total claim of seats within the ruling coalition has reached.

In Saturday’s meeting, the Congress climbed down to 11 seats, said a CPN (Maoist Centre) leader, while the Maoist Center itself is now asking for five seats. The Unified Socialist too could be okay with three seats.

The Janata Samajbadi is prepared to go to the election with two candidates from its side while the Loktantrik Samajbadi Party, the Nagarik Unmukti Party, the Rastriya Janamorcha and the Janamat Party want a seat each.

Major parties in the coalition are claiming more seats than they deserve, said CK Raut, the Janamat chair, after the meeting. “This is why the meeting could not reach a conclusion.”

Mainly, there could be no meeting point between the Congress, the Maoist Centre, the Unified Socialist and the Janata Samajbadi Party, Raut added. After the major parties in the coalition started wrangling over the seats, Raut, Chitra Bahadur KC of Rastriya Janamorcha and Loktantrik Samajbadi chair Mahantha Thakur left the meeting, leaving the four major parties to settle the matter.

The Congress has suggested an agreement based on each party’s electoral strength. As voters of the National Assembly election are chiefs and deputy chiefs of local governments and members of provincial assemblies, the Congress claims the biggest pie of the electoral college. And Congress President Deuba is under pressure as the rival Congress faction led by Shekhar Koirala and Gagan Thapa has made a demand for four seats, according to a leader close to Koirala.

Earlier, Prime Minister Dahal had convinced Congress chief Deuba to allocate some seats to the UML in return for the UML’s help in resolving differences on the Transitional Justice Bill and for allegedly covering up irregularities on Terramax technology procurement for the Nepal Telecommunication Authority in which some Congress and UML leaders were reportedly involved.

One big reason behind the idea of seat sharing among the three major parties was to ensure senior Congress leader Krishna Prasad Sitaula’s entry into the upper house, multiple leaders from the coalition confirmed. Former home minister Sitaula is likely to contest the elections from Koshi Province.

A Congress leader told the Post that Sitaula was in talks with both Dahal and Oli in order to win their favour. He has had good relations with Dahal ever since the Maoists joined mainstream politics in 2006. A trusted lieutenant of then-prime minister Girija Prasad Koirala, Sitaula was active in bringing the Maoists into mainstream politics.

Oli sees a political benefit for himself too in sending Sitaula to the upper house. As Oli and Sitaula are both from Jhapa, Oli reckons he can have a greater influence in the district’s politics with the prominent Congress leader busy in the National Assembly.

Until Wednesday, both Dahal and Deuba were positive about sharing some seats with the UML.

Putting forth his party’s proposal, Oli sought six seats for the UML among the 19 up for grabs. But Dahal, Deuba and Oli could not manage the pressures within their respective parties.

Dahal and Deuba faced strong objections, mainly from the ruling coalition partners.

Unified Socialist chief Madhav Kumar Nepal and Janata Samajbadi Chairman Upendra Yadav stood against the idea of sharing seats with the UML, according to leaders of the ruling coalition.

Devendra Poudel, a Maoist Centre secretary, said the idea was to reach a deal based on a give-and-take.

“We have already given some seats to the UML. For instance, we let them lead two parliamentary committees. We also sought the UML’s help in endorsing bills related to transitional justice among other pending bills,” Poudel said. “But as the UML did not commit to anything, the chapter of seat-sharing with it was closed.”

On Friday, the UML’s secretariat meeting decided to field its candidates in all 19 upper house seats being contested.

“We have decided to contest all the seats,” said Shankar Pokhrel, the UML general secretary, after the meeting.

There were also reservations within the UML over possible seat-sharing with the ruling coalition. Some argued that such a partnership would weaken the main opposition in Parliament and other platforms.

Ramesh Lekhak, the Congress chief whip, said after the coalition’s meeting on Saturday: “We have decided to collaborate [in the election] only among the ruling parties.”

“In a broader democratic spirit, we had earlier discussed joining hands even with the opposition party. But that did not materialise,” said Lekhak. As the UML has also decided to contest all the 19 seats, coalition partners will jointly field the candidates, he added.

Even with the UML out of the picture, a deal will not be easy to reach for the coalition partners.

The parties need to decide the names of their candidates by Monday, the day of nomination.

Late on Saturday evening, the ruling coalition held two back to back meetings to distribute the seats, without success. The division of seats will be based on the number of outgoing assembly members, among other factors, said Lekhak.