Nepali Congress to field candidate for the post of President
Nepali Congress Party has said that the party will field its candidate for the upcoming election for the post of president. Senior leader of Nepali Congress Prakash Man Singh talking to The Nepal Weekly, said that the party has decided to run for the presidential election to be held soon.
The party will now focus its attention on the upcoming presidential election, he said. Nepali Congress being the largest party in the House of Representatives is qualified enough to field its candidate for the post, he pointed out.
Ganesh Shah, secretary of the ruling CPN-Maoist Centre said that his party was ready to forge consensus among the political parties for the post of president. We will try to build consensus even with the opposition parties including Nepali Congress for the purpose, Shah told.
The election for the post of president is likely to be held around mid-February, though the Election Commission has not yet fixed the date. As President Bidya Bhandari is retiring from the top post around mid-March there is a practice of holding the presidential election one month prior to termination of her term.
Earlier during the election held for Speaker of the House of Representatives on January 19, Nepali Congress lost the election to ruling CPN-UML candidate. UML candidate Dev Raj Ghimire has been elected to the post of Speaker of the HoR by defeating NC candidate Ishwori Neupane. Ghimire casted 167 votes against 97 votes casted by Neupane.
CPN-UML has claimed that being the largest member of the ruling alliance, it is eligible for the post of the president. Therefore, tough competition is like for the presidential election between opposition Nepali Congress and ruling CPN-UML. Nepali Congress, despite being the opposition, had casted its vote in favour of Prachanda when the CPN-Maoist Centre chairperson sought vote of confidence in the HoR. The move by the opposition party is seen as a strategy to woo Prachanda's favour during the presidential election.