KATHMANDU: Four political parties have agreed to divide the 18 vacant seats in the National Assembly.

The Nepali Congress, CPN (UML), Nepali Communist Party, and the Janata Samajwadi Party have reached an agreement to share the 18 seats. According to the agreement, the Nepali Congress will get 7 seats, UML will get 7 seats, the Nepal Communist Party will get 3 seats, and the Janata Samajwadi Party will get 1 seat.

After discussions among the four parties, an agreement was reached on seat allocation, Nepali Congress Spokesperson Prakash Sharan Mahat told Nepal News. Acting President of the Nepali Congress, Purna Bahadur Khadka, is holding discussions on the seat-sharing arrangement in the party’s Central Executive Committee. He is trying to present the seat-sharing agreement to the Central Executive Committee for approval. The meeting of the Congress Central Executive Committee is currently underway.

According to the election schedule for the 18 National Assembly seats, nominations must be filed on Tuesday itself. As per the National Assembly election schedule, nominations will be registered on January 7, complaints against candidates can be filed on the January 8, and candidates may withdraw their nominations on January 11. The final list of candidates will be published on the same day.

On January 12, the election officer will assign election symbols to the candidates. Voting will take place on 25 January. Eighteen seats in the National Assembly will fall vacant on 4 March. There is a provision that elections must be held one month before the seats fall vacant.