Prime Minister Sushila Karki has started direct engagement with top leaders of the major political parties with the aim of creating a conducive environment for the March 5 elections.

Two days after President Ramchandra Paudel arranged a meeting between Prime Minister Karki, Nepali Congress President Sher Bahadur Deuba, CPN-UML Chair KP Sharma Oli, and Nepali Communist Party Coordinator Pushpa Kamal Dahal, Karki called a joint meeting with three leaders on Saturday at the prime minister’s residence to ensure timely elections.

This was the first visit of the three top leaders to the prime minister’s residence after the Gen Z uprising in September forced Oli, who was prime minister at the time, to resign and flee in a Nepali Army chopper from Baluwatar.

Deuba sustained injuries on September 9 when unruly protesters attacked him and his wife, Arzu Rana Deuba, who was foreign minister at the time, at their residence while Dahal, whose residence was also burnt down, had taken shelter inside Nepali Army barrack at Singhadurbar.

Earlier, Prime Minister Karki entrusted Minister for Communication and Information Technology Jagdish Kharel with meeting Deuba, Oli and Dahal and inviting them to talks at the official residence of the prime minister.

Kharel on Friday visited each of the three leaders in person and extended the invitation for Saturday’s meeting.

Accepting Karki’s invitation, the three former prime ministers–Deuba, Oli and Dahal–held talks with the prime minister where they shared their respective positions, while also assuring her that they are ready for March elections if the government can guarantee adequate security.

According to multiple sources from the leaders’ and prime minister’s side, the three leaders, during the meeting, had stressed on the need for guaranteed security while expressing their respective party’s readiness to participate in the election.

After the meeting, Nepali Congress President and former prime minister Deuba said that all political parties are ready to go to the elections. “The Congress is ready. The UML is also ready. Other parties are ready as well,” he told journalists outside the prime minister’s office. “The government must ensure a safe environment and security should be guaranteed.”

Sporadic clashes between different political parties and groups are common in Nepali elections. But this time the leaders feel particularly insecure after a large number of inmates fled prisons during the September 9 unrest, posing serious security threats to the elections. Nearly 15,000 inmates fled prisons from various parts of the country. According to the Ministry of Home Affairs, over 5,000 such inmates are still at large.

Second, the party leaders and others also fear possible misuse of the police weapons looted during the Gen Z protests.

In the meeting, Karki thanked the leaders for accepting her invitation and attending the meeting, and asked for their participation in the March elections.

In the course of the meeting, Karki said that her mandate was to conduct timely elections and that she is only a temporary occupant of the Prime Minister’s residence, which really belongs to political leaders.

Karki also briefed the leaders on election preparations, security, and other related matters.

“I called you here to request one thing—that we make these elections a success no matter what,” an official at the PMO quoted Prime Minister Karki as saying during the meeting. “I can see that you are prepared for the elections… This is a welcome development.”

Though the political parties have in public expressed doubts over the government’s ability to ensure security, they have simultaneously intensified the process of selection of candidates under the proportional representation category. The political parties’ lower committees have recommended the candidates under the first-past-the-post category as well.

After the meeting, the government has reiterated the inevitability of March 5 elections.

According to government spokesperson and Minister for Communications Kharel, Dahal clearly stated in the meeting that the election must be held on March 5.

“Let’s not defer the March election on this or that excuse,” Kharel quoted Dahal as saying at the meeting. “Given the special circumstances under which this government is working, he [Dahal] also praised its work.”

Similarly, Congress President Deuba said that his party’s priority is no longer the reinstatement of the House of Representatives.

“Deuba said that the Congress’s priority now is elections, not House restoration,” Kharel said. Likewise, according to Kharel, UML chair Oli urged Prime Minister Karki to create the right climate for polls.

There is now a clear answer to whether elections will happen—they will, Kharel added.

According to him, Saturday’s discussion also answered the question of whether political parties will take part in the elections.

“The answer is that all political parties will participate and now there is also no uncertainty over elections,” Kharel said.

Saturday’s meeting is significant as the government has apparently succeeded in improving relations with major parties, and particularly with UML chair Oli, who had publicly ruled out his party’s participation in elections to be conducted by the Karki-led government.

Also, Karki, immediately after becoming prime minister, had reportedly said that she was reluctant to meet the chiefs of the three major parties.