Nepali Congress (NC) is currently working on selecting 20 members of parliament (MPs) from the proportional representation (PR).
The Election Commission (EC) is set to select MPs after the EC on Thursday allocated PR seats for the parties that have cleared the 3 percent threshold. NC Acting Chief Secretary Krishna Prasad Dulal has stated that NC will have to nominate 15 women for the 20 seats won via the PR system.
The Commission has asked NC to nominate six individuals each from the Khas-Arya and Adivasi Janajati communities, while it has asked it to include three individuals each from the Madheshi and Dalit communities. The letter sent to NC by the Commission states that one candidate each from the Tharu and Muslim communities will be selected from the closed list -one being from a backward area.
According to Dulal, NC's closed list includes two women and two men from a backward area. One of the four names will be selected.
Bidya Devi Timilsina and Hajari Nepali are on the women's side, while Bhim Bahadur Tiruwa of Mugu and Tara Bahadur Lama of Humla are candidates on the men's side.
Among the Khas Arya women, Sushila Dhakal, Rukmini Devi Koirala, Rina Upreti, Sita Thapaliya and Ganga Shahi are likely to become MPs.
Whether Arjun Narsingh KC, who is number one on the Khas-Arya men's side, will become an MP or not will depend on the number of women coming from other clusters.
From the indigenous ethnic group, Gita Kumari Sendang, Ganga Lakshmi Awal, Gita Gurung, Renuka Kaucha, Sunita Kumari Subedi and Bhishma Raj Angdembe are likely to become MPs, while Ninu Kumari Karna, Rekha Kumari Yadav and Chandra Mohan Yadav likely to be nominated from the Madheshi quota.
Harina Devi Kami, Pabitra BK, and Man Bahadur Nepali are poised to secure seats through the Dalit quota. Joining them as successful candidates from their respective groups are Pramila Kumari Gachhadar (Tharu) and Shahjahan Khatun (Muslim).
General Secretary Gururaj Ghimire said that discussions are underway in the party to arrange clusters from the names on the closed list and send names by tomorrow. He said that the focus is now on homework on the names to be submitted to the Commission for PR.
On Thursday, the Commission has already written to six parties, giving them three-day deadline to nominate the names of candidates for the PR seats they have received from the closed list. According to the Commission spokesperson Narayan Bhattarai, the commission will elect the candidates sent by the parties based on whether they match or not, and issue certificates within two days.
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