KATHMANDU: The ruling coalition has struck an agreement on the distribution of seats for the National Assembly (NA) elections.
A meeting of the ruling coalition held in Baluwatar on Monday agreed on NA seat sharing.
According to CPN-Unified Socialist (CPN-US) leader and former prime minister Jhala Nath Khanal, six seats have been allocated to the Nepali Congress (NC), five each to the CPN-Maoist Center and CPN-US, two to the Janata Samajbadi Party and one to the Rastriya Janamorcha of the total 20 seats turning vacant on March 5, 2022.
However, agreement was yet to be reached on the one seat towards nominations.
This time the term of 8 members of the UML, 4 members each of the CPN-US and CPN-Maoist Center and 3 members of NC (totaling 19 NA seats) is coming to an end. Election for respective seat will be held only in the respective constituency.
The NA consists of a total of 59 members with six years term. Since the NA is a permanent chamber, the term of one-third of its members expires every two years.
For the first time, lottery was held to decide the term of NA members. Accordingly, the term of 19 NA members had completed in the first two years and elections were held to fill the first lot of vacant seats.
Similarly, the four-year term of another one-third NA members (20 NA members), including the vice-chairperson, is to come to an end on March 5, 2022. The term of the remaining 20 others will expire in the next two years.
The constitutional provision mandates that the election should be held 35 days before the expiration of the term of office of NA members. Accordingly, the Election Commission has fixed the date for the election on January 26.
The Province Assembly members, the Chair and Vice-chair of the rural municipalities, the mayors and deputy mayors of municipalities, sub-metropolitan cities, and the metropolitan cities are the voters in the NA election. There are a total of 2025 voters to cast ballot in NA election.
Comment