Kathmandu, Mar 7 (PTI) A meeting of the representatives from Nepal’s eight-party alliance met here on Tuesday to discuss the preparations for the Presidential elections on March 9 and also deliberate on a raft of key political issues.
The task force chaired by Nepali Congress vice-president Purna Bahadur Khadka has representatives from CPN (Maoist Center), CPN (Unified Socialist), Janata Samajwadi Party Nepal, Loktantrik Samajbadi Party Nepal, Nagarik Unmukti Party, Janamat Party and Rastriya Jana Morcha.
The meeting was held at the Nepali Congress’ parliamentary party office here and discussions centred on contemporary political issues, including preparations for the Presidential election scheduled on March 9, Nepali Congress sources said.
The upcoming Presidential election is a face-off between two former speakers of the House of Representatives — Ram Chandra Paudel — a candidate backed by the eight-party alliance and CPN-UML’s Subas Nembang.
Paudel, 78 and Nembang, 69, filed their nominations last month.
Last week, former prime minister KP Sharma-led CPN-UML, Nepal’s second largest party in Parliament, withdrew its support to Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal “Prachanda”-led government following a rift over backing Paudel for the presidential poll.
With the support from eight political parties, Paudel’s victory in the presidential election is almost certain.
The tenure of the current president, Bidya Devi Bhandari, will end on March 12.
The total number of voters for the election of the President is 882, consisting of 332 members of the federal parliament and 550 members of the provincial assemblies of the seven provinces. The vote weightage of a federal MP is 79 whereas that of the provincial assembly member is 48. The term of office of the President shall be five years from the date of election and an individual can be elected for the post of the President only for two terms. PTI SBP VM AKJ VM VM
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