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Communist Party of Nepal General Secretary Netra Bikram Chand (Biplav) has been appointed as the coordinator of the Socialist Front Nepal.

A meeting of the Front held on Sunday morning decided to appoint Chand as the coordinator.

The Front comprises four parties—CPN (Maoist Center), Janata Samajbadi Party, CPN (Unified Socialist) and Chand-led Communist Party of Nepal.

The formation of the Front was announced on June 20.

Earlier, CPN (Unified Socialist) Chairman Madhav Kumar Nepal was taking the responsibility of the post.

As per the agreement to change the leadership on rotation basis in every four months,  Maoist Center Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal took the leadership at first and handed over to Nepal later.

Madhes Province Chief Minister Saroj Kumar Yadav is seeking a vote of confidence from the Province Assembly for the third time today.

A meeting of the Province Assembly has been called for 2 pm today for this purpose. CM Yadav is facing a floor test after the Janamat Party on January 23 withdrew its support to his government.

Before this, Yadav had to take a vote of confidence for the second time on June 13, 2023 after the CPN-UML pulled out his government on May 15, 2023.

The constitution requires that the government should seek a vote of confidence within 30 days if any party supporting it quits the government.

The Chief Minister requires the support of 54 members out of the total 107 members of the Province Assembly for winning the vote of confidence.

The largest party in the Assembly, the CPN-UML has 23 members, the Nepali Congress 22 members, the Janata Samajbadi Party 18 members, the Janamat Party 13 members and the Loktantrik Samajbadi Party and the CPN (Maoist Centre) nine members each, the CPN (Unified Socialist) has seven members while Nepal Sanghiya Samajwadi Party, the Nagarik Unmukti Party and the Rastriya Prajatantra Party each has one member. Three members are independents.

The Madhes Province government is led by the Janata Samajbadi Party.

The Nepali Congress, the Loktantrik Samajbadi Party, the Maoist Center and CPN (Unified Socialist) are in the government.

The government has the support of 65 members from these four parties in the ruling coalition.

The Election Commission has directed the political parties to inform it if they have made any changes and amendments to their names, statute, rules, stamp, flag and symbol as well as changes in their office-bearers within 30 days.

The EC, in accordance with Section 51 of Political Parties related Act, 2073, asked the political parties to submit the details in the stipulated format.

It said that the political parties were directed to submit the details in order to stop the trend of not providing information about the changes made in the party for a long time.

A press release issued by EC Assistant Spokesperson, Dr Thaneshowr Bhusal, stated that the parties were asked to submit the details only after making a decision from the party's general convention or central executive committee, which is in EC's record, or approved from general convention if possible.

Distribution of party membership, election, nomination and appointment of office-bearers and members including central committee should be as per political party related act, mentioned EC.

Likewise, the EC urged the political parties to make arrangements for their financial transactions through banks, keeping the accounting record in the specified format.

Nepali Congress General Secretary Gagan Kumar Thapa has said that party’s members have not felt the party’s presence in the government. Presenting a document at the party’s Central Working Committee (CWC), Thapa maintained that NC cadres were not connecting themselves with the government’s policy, priorities and programs.

In this scenario, there is a state of confusion inside the party—whether to defend the government or question its relevance, Thapa states in his document. He added that party leaders cannot turn a deaf ear to such a scenario.

Thapa, who prepared the document after extensive consultations with cadres at the grass-roots, noted that there is dissatisfaction over the electoral alliance with the Maoist party. Due to the electoral alliance, cadres did not get the chance to vote for the party’s election symbol, which has created frustration, The cadres have taken the pre-poll alliance with the Maoists as a sign of waning of the party’s ideology and they are unhappy with the party leadership, Thapa said. Thapa has stated that the party should stick to the present ruling coalition but it should pass a resolution declaring that such an alliance won’t continue after the completion of its five-year tenure.

In his political document, the NC general secretary has said that the party failed to implement its statute, which resulted in undemocratic functioning of the party, adding that there is a tendency of neglecting the party’s statute. Per Thapa’s analysis, the party is neglecting the minority voices and those losing elections are adopting non-cooperation policies across the party line. The party is totally visionless leaving the rank and file disillusioned, he said at the party meeting and proposed organizing the party’s general convention on schedule.