Prime Minister Sushila Karki has continued her consultations with political party leaders regarding preparations for the March 5 parliamentary elections.

Karki held discussions with Nepali Congress general secretaries Gagan Thapa and Bishwa Prakash Sharma at her official residence in Baluwatar on Saturday.

The meeting, which lasted for about an hour from 4 pm to 5 pm, focused on the government’s preparations for the elections and the tasks to be completed in the coming days, according to Karki’s chief personal secretary, Adarsha Kumar Shrestha.

During the discussion, the prime minister emphasised the need for political parties to make their positions on the elections clear. The Congress leaders assured her that their party was committed to participating in the polls.

“Although the formal decision is yet to be made, Congress is ready to go to the elections. We believe the CPN-UML also cannot avoid elections as that is the only way to give the nation a way forward. The government should make additional efforts to bring UML on board, and we will also try,” the prime minister’s secretariat quoted them as saying during the meeting.

Thapa and Sharma also reportedly said that the Congress would soon hold serious dialogues with Gen Z youth groups and other political parties.

Shrestha informed that although the prime minister also invited CPN-UML leaders for similar consultations the UML leaders informed Baluwatar that they would meet the prime minister the following day as they had a party meeting on Saturday.

Karki has been holding a series of meetings with leaders from different political parties to build consensus ahead of the elections.

A tripartite meeting among the government, political parties, and Gen Z representatives was conducted earlier on Wednesday.