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The main opposition CPN-UML has expressed its dissatisfaction over the government’s move to extend the tenure of the House of Representatives and Province Assemblies. Speaking at a meeting of the Parliament on Tuesday, lawmaker Sher Bahadur Tamang appealed to the government to withdraw a bill to extend the terms of the House of Representatives and Province Assemblies. Saying that the tenure of the House of Representatives and Province Assemblies should be ended after announcing the date of elections, he said the government, however, is hell bent on extending the terms of both the houses. Similarly, lawmaker Gokul Prasad Baskota said that the government has been trying to extend the terms of the House of Representatives and Province Assemblies putting democracy at stake. He said that the UML will not support this bill. Lawmaker Baskota said that the tenure of the House of Representatives and Province Assemblies will end on September 17.

CPN (Maoist Center) Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal has said that the seat-sharing among the coalition partners will be finalized by Wednesday. The Maoist Center has claimed 60 seats. Speaking to mediapersons at the Dhangadhi Airport on Tuesday, Dahal said that the task force is holding discussions to finalize the seat-sharing. It will be finalized by Wednesday, he added. Dahal said that the Nepali Congress has claimed 80 seats and CPN (Unified Socialist) and Janata Samajbadi Party have claimed 25 seats each. He expressed his hope that the consensus would be reached around it. Meanwhile, he said that the leaders of the ruling coalition parties have been holding discussions to not extend the tenure of the House of Representatives. Dahal was of the opinion that the current Parliament will not exist after the nomination filing day. Earlier on Monday, the Election Commission had objected to a government’s move to extend the tenure of the Parliament.

A delegation of the France-Nepal Interparliamentary Friendship Group in the French Senate led by Daniel Salmon called on Foreign Minister Narayan Khadka on Monday. According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, they exchanged views on a range of matters including development cooperation, trade, and investment, climate change as well as the importance of parliamentary exchanges. On the occasion, Minister Khadka thanked the French side for the support provided during COVID-19. President of France-Nepal Interparliamentary Friendship Group in the French Senate Senator Daniel Salmon and Senator Anne-Catherine Loisier are on an official visit to Nepal at the invitation of the Chairperson of Nepal France Inter-Parliamentary Group, Madhav Kumar Nepal. According to a press statement from the Embassy of France, the visiting French parliamentary delegation will pay courtesy calls on President Bidya Devi Bhandari, Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba, Speaker of the House of Representatives Agni Prasad Sapkota, National Assembly Chairperson Ganesh Prasad Timilsina and other top leaders of different political parties. The French delegate is also expected to hold interactions with members of the private sector, experts on climate change, and others, it is said.

The Election Commission has determined a total of 10,888 polling stations across the country for the upcoming elections to the House of Representatives and provincial assemblies set for November 20. It may be noted that there were a total of 10,756 polling stations in the local level elections held on May 13 earlier this year. The Election Commission reviewed the number of polling stations also considering the number of voters, convenience and security sensitivities in accordance with the Polling Station and Voting Centre Fixation Work Procedure, 2020. The EC decided to make polling management effective and ensure easy access of voters to the voting process. In line with the arrangements specified in the Working Procedure, the revision was also based on the recommendations received from the district polling station and voting centre fixation recommendation committee. The recommendations were also premised on several aspects such as voters' density, access to polling station, building, communications, electricity, transport, status of infrastructure, security and geographical situation and consensus among electoral stakeholders. According to EC Spokesperson Shaligram Sharma Poudel, the number of polling stations has reached 10,888.