Kathmandu, October 24
After filing nominations for the first phase of provincial and federal parliamentary elections scheduled for November 26, the leftist alliance comprising the CPN-UML and the CPN-Maoist Centre have begun discussions on dividing constituencies between them for the second phase of polls scheduled for December 7.
Allocating constituencies will be more difficult in the second phase as it will have more constituencies. Total 125 federal and 256 provincial constituencies of 45 districts will hold the polls on December 7.
UML Secretary Pradeep Gyawali says a task force headed by UML General Secretary Ishwar Pokharel is finalising the distribution by this evening and the proposal for allocation will be submitted to the coordination committee comprising top leaders of both the parties for approval tomorrow.
Though the two parties had agreed to distribute the constituencies in a 60:40 ratio, the Maoist party is unlikely to get 40 per cent share as the UML has to accommodate some fringe parties and some leaders who rebelled against the Rastriya Janata Party Nepal including Hridayesh Tripathi.
Further, the Maoists had got little more than 40 per cent in the first phase as they have stronger presence in high hills than the UML. Therefore, the Maoists will get just more than 30 per cent constituencies in most of provinces in the second phase, according to a source.
The two parties, however, have agreed to distribute equal seats in Province 2 as the UML is comparatively weaker there.
