Madhes based parties mulling common candidate for PM post

The Madhes based parties are preparing to forward a common candidate for the post of Prime Minister with support of some fringe parties, if the largest three parties – Unified CPN (Maoist), Nepali Congress (NC) and UML – do not reach a consensus and come up with a common candidate by the election date, Annapurna Post daily reported.

The Madhes based parties came up with the strategy as the chances of consensus among the largest three parties is becoming slimmer before the 1^st round of prime ministerial election slated for coming Thursday.

Madhesi Janadhikar Forum (MJF) chairman Upendra Yadav, MJF-Loktantrik chairman Bijaya Kumar Gachchhadar or Terai Madhes Loktantrik Party (TMLP) chairman Mahanth Thakur is likely to be a common candidate from the Madhes based parties, according to a Madhes based leader.

The parties have also worked out a strategy to woo all the fringe parties to vote for them in the election. The common candidate of the Madhes based parties will receive second highest votes if all three major parties – UCPN (Maoist), NC and UML – file their own candidates and vote for them, and all or most of the fringe parties vote for them.

At present, there are 239 lawmakers from UCPN (Maoist), 114 from NC, 108 from UML. The remaining lawmakers are from the Madhes based parties and the fringe parties. MJF, MJF-L, TMLP, and splinter faction of TMLP and Sadbhawana in total have about 80 lawmakers.