Preparations for nomination have reached the final stage in the left alliance, according to an arrangement between the two parties to field 43 common candidates among the 56 seats up for grabs in the National Assembly election.

The Election Commission has scheduled nomination of candidates for the Upper House on Wednesday. The CPN (Maoist Centre) has recommended Ram Bahadur Thapa for a seat from Province 3. The task force of the alliance led by Subas Nembang has decided to field 29 candidates from the UML and 14 from the Maoist Centre for the NA elections. The decision has been endorsed by both the parties.

Top three leaders of the Maoist Centre—Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal, Narayan Kaji Shrestha and Thapa—have met all the seven leaders in charge of the party’s provincial committees, discussing the names of candidates for the clusters given to the party.

Monday’s meeting entrusted the three leaders, who are also the members of the Party Unification Coordination Committee, to decide the candidates.

According to Dahal’s secretariat, the leaders would prepare the final list of candidates on Tuesday morning.

Those recommended for the race include Thapa and Leelamani Pokhrel for the open category, and Bimala Subedi, Ganga Parajuli and Sarita Maharjan for the women’s category from Province 3.

Dinanath Sharma, Sriram Dhakal and Balawati Sharma were named for the open category along with Parshuram Ramtel, Khim Kumar BK and Bhakta Rasaili in the Dalit category of Province 4.

For Province 7, Hariram Chaudhary, Sahadev Bogati, Padma Raj Joshi, Devraj Regmi and Min Bahadur Khatri have been short-listed for the open category while Laliram Lohar, Mahesh Kumar Mahara, Bal Krishna Chaudhary and Janak Joshi are being considered for the marginalised/disabled category. In Province 1, Narmaya Bhattarai and Beema Kafle are among those picked for the women’s category.

A meeting of the UML Standing Committee on Monday evening decided to form two joint task forces to expedite party merger with the Maoist Centre. According to discussions that stretched into the night, the party is said to finalise all its candidates by Tuesday morning.