Kathmandu, October 11

The ruling Nepali Congress today formed a parliamentary board to finalise tickets for the provincial and parliamentary polls slated for November 26 and December 7.

The Central Working Committee meeting of the NC formed a 17-member board comprising senior party leaders, including Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba.

According to NC treasurer Sita Devi Yadav, who is also a member of the board, senior leaders Ramchandra Paudel, Khum Bahadur Khadka, Arjun Narsingh KC, Ram Sharan Mahat, Prakash Sharan Mahat, Krishna Prasad Sitaula, Gopal Man Shrestha, Purna Bahadur Khadka, NC General Secretary Shashanka Koirala, Prakash Man Singh, Bal Krishna Khand, Gyanendra Bahadur Karki, Mahesh Acharya, Chitra Lekha Yadav and Bimalendra Nidhi are members of the board.

NC statute allows forming 14-member parliamentary board but the party increased three members, according to Yadav. Board member Khand said PM, Deuba, who is also the NC secretary, added three more members with the consent of NC CWC.

Meanwhile, the board meeting held at PM Deuba’s official residence this evening reviewed the reports and lists of candidates recommended by its regional and district committees.

“Today, we saw s list of candidates recommended by our regional and district committees,” said leader Khand. He said the parliamentary board would select names of candidates for Proportional Representation and First-Past-the-Post elections from the list recommended by those committees. NC regional and district committees have recommended dozens of names of aspirants for single seats under FPTP category. “The board will select names from the recommended list, as per the quota determined by the Election Commission,” said Khand.

According to leader Khand, the board would finalise names of PR candidates by October 15. Political parties have to submit close list of PR candidates on October 15, as per the schedule published by the EC.

Khand said the board would finalise FPTP candidates only after candidates of PR category are finalised. Parties have to submit list of FPTP candidates for November 26 elections on October 22 at offices of chief returning officers from 10:00am to 5:00pm, as per the EC schedule.