KATHMANDU – CPN (Maoist Center) Chairperson Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’ today said seat allocation in six metropolitan cities and 11 sub-metropolitan cities across the country for the May 13 local level election would be concluded through consensus today.
The coalition parties in the incumbent have neared an agreement in this regard, he said at a press conference at party central office. There are a total of six metropolitan cities in the country (Kathmandu, Lalitpur, Pokhara, Bharatpur, Birgunj and Biratnagar). As per the proposal for the seat allocation, Nepali Congress candidates will get three metropolitan cities seats and other alliance parties—the CPN (Maoist Center), CPN (Unified Socialist) and Janata Samajwadi Party Nepal-one each, he said.
Similarly, Sub-Metropolitan seats will also be allocated the same way, he said. For municipality and rural municipality-level alliance, the district committees are given authority to allocate seats. In case, the committees fail to do so, the matter would be resolved acting on suggestions from the central level, he said.
In some cases, the coalition parties have fielded their common candidate for the poll. In others, talks are ongoing and an agreement on the matter would be reached soon, he said.
In another context, the former Prime Minister dismissed the report that the Maoist Centre was claiming a mayoral seat in Bharatpur Metropolitan City terming it a false one. “When the coalition parties reach an agreement, the Maoist Centre will get a share of a metropolitan seat. It will be content with any one of six metropolitan seats. Talks have taken place this way.”
On a common election symbol for the common candidate fielded by the coalition, he dismissed the issue as having technical difficulties. “The Election Commission has already put forward the election process. Some difficulties may occur in this case. “But our take is that it will be easier for a party candidate to use his or her party election symbol in the poll,” he argued.
