Four major political parties of the dissolved House of Representatives have decided to tie up in the upcoming National Assembly election set to take place on January 25.

Separate meetings of Nepali Congress, CPN-UML, Nepali Communist Party and Janata Samajbadi Party-Nepal have split the 18 vacant seats among them and endorsed the seat-sharing arrangement. They are in a rush to select the candidates internally as well as reach an understanding among them to ensure cluster-wise representation from each province.

Amid this, besides Janata Samajbadi Party-Nepal, all three parties have intensified the internal consultation to select the candidates matching the clusters respectively.

A meeting of the Congress central work execution committee on Tuesday decided to agree for seat sharing arrangement with other parties, reads a notice issued by Congress party’s chief secretary, Krishna Prasad Poudel.

The parties have agreed to send Loktantrik Samajbadi Party Chairman Mahantha Thakur to the upper house from Madhesh Province with the support of Nepali Congress.

“Out of four vacant seats that will represent Madhesh Province, it is decided to forward the name of Thakurji to the National Assembly,” said Surendra Jha, a leader from Loktantrik Samajbadi Party.

As per the agreement among the parties, the remaining 17 seats will be split between Congress, UML and Nepali Communist Party with Congress and UML getting seven seats each and NCP three seats.

Initially it was agreed to allocate eight seats to Congress but out of eight, one seat is now confirmed to Thakur. But due to increasing factional feud, Congress is sharply divided. A leader close to party President Sher Bahadur Deuba said that out of seven seats, four seats are allocated to Deuba camp and rest three seats are given to party General Secretary Gagan Thapa and Shekhar Koirala camp.

Likewise, a Secretariat meeting of UML also decided to reach a seat-sharing arrangement with other parties and claimed one seat each from seven provinces, said UML’s deputy general secretary Lekhraj Bhatta. The meeting has entrusted party chair KP Oli to discuss the seat-sharing arrangement with Nepali Congress and take a call, he said.

Similarly, the NCP also held its consultation meeting and decided to hold talks with Congress and UML on seat-sharing arrangement and entrusted coordinator Pushpa Kamal Dahal and co-coordinator Madhav Kumar Nepal, according to Prakash Jwala.

“As per our representation in provincial assemblies and local bodies, we will claim for our fair share,” Jwala said. The party is looking for four seats as per its presence in local bodies and provincial assemblies.

New and “alternative” parties such as Rastriya Swatantra Party do not have representation in local and provincial assemblies, so they are unable to represent in the upper house. However, some independent office bearers in local bodies will vote in the polls.