Kathmandu, November 14:

The Nepali Congress (NC), Nepal Sadbhawana Party (Anandidevi) and the United Left Front (ULF) today emphasised that Constituent Assembly election must be held within 2064 BS and unity among seven parties should remain intact.

The three parties, which are partners in the seven-party alliance (SPA), reiterated their commitment on forging a consensus among the SPA to ensure “cemented unity” at least till the CA elections.

“We have been laying emphasis on maintaining consensus among the SPA and holding CA elections within this year,” NC spokesperson Arjun Narsingh KC told this daily today.

As part of “convincing” the partners in the SPA at a time when the special session of the Parliament has directed the government to initiate process on announcing a republic and go for a fully proportional electoral system, NC leaders met NSP (A) leaders today at the NC parliamentary party office in Singha Durbar. The parliament will resume on Monday and that the parties need to form a consensus to ensure smooth business of the session.

“The NC and NSP (A) have shared a common stance that SPA unity should not break to avert possible disaster and that the CA polls must be held within this year,” NSP(A) leader Hridayesh Tripathi said. He also stressed that a SPA meeting must be held before the parliamentary session resumes on Monday.

But both the parties (NC and NSP-A) are yet to “explore an approach” as to how to conduct elections within this year. “Discussions are underway on this issue,” KC said.

The NC, which had held talks with the CPN-UML on Monday and the Janamorcha Nepal yesterday, also discussed on fully proportional electoral system and republic declaration with the United Left Front today.