A week after announcing a left electoral alliance, two communist forces now are finding it hard dividing constituencies among the partners with too many aspirants and limited number of seats. 

As per a deal reached between the CPN-UML and the CPN (Maoist Centre), which on October 3 formed a left electoral alliance along with the Naya Shakti Nepal (NSN, the two large forces are to share constituencies for the upcoming polls in 60:40 ratio after allocating some seats to the fringe forces, including the NSN.

A taskforce led by UML General Secretary Ishwor Pokhrel was supposed to complete the job of dividing constituencies by Sunday, but it has failed to make much headway even until Tuesday.  

The parties had earlier said dividing constituencies among the partners would not be “that difficult” as the electoral alliance was anyway a precursor to a unified communist centre, but in practicality things are looking different. 

Maoist Centre leader Barsha Man Pun said the taskforce would sit for discussion again on Wednesday. 

Amid delay in finalising constituencies for the alliance partners, NSN Coordinator Baburam Bhattarai held discussions with UML Chairman KP Sharma Oli and Maoist Centre Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal on Tuesday, seeking clarity on the number of seats to be allocated to his party. 

Leaders of the left alliance admitted that parties were facing difficulty in dividing constituencies. “There are many aspirants while the number of constituencies is limited,” a UML source told the Post, adding that the issue, however, will be sorted out within a couple of days.

As per the 60:40 deal, the Maoist Centre is supposed to get 66 constituencies (out of 165) to contest in the parliamentary polls. However, since the UML and the Maoist Centre have to accommodate the NSN, the number of seats for the Maoist Centre is likely to come down to 56. The parties in the left alliance will face a similar difficulty while sharing constituencies for the provincial polls as well.