India optimistic as Nepali Congress takes lead in poll results

India is cautiously optimistic about its relations with Nepal as the ruling Nepali Congress, led by Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba, appears set to emerge as the single largest party in parliament after the recently held elections.

The Nepali Congress and its allies like the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist Centre) and the Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Socialist) have already started discussions to form the new government in Kathmandu. Deuba had separate meetings with CPN (Maoist Centre) chief, Pushpa Kamal Dahal a.k.a. Prachanda, and the CPN (Unified Socialist), Madhav Nepal, at his official residence in Baluwatar in Kathmandu on Monday. Deuba and Prachanda had earlier met on Saturday.

New Delhi’s envoy to Kathmandu, Naveen Srivastava, is in touch with the prime minister of Nepal as well as the CPN (Maoist Centre) chief, sources said.

The polling for 165 of the 275 seats in the House of Representatives (Pratinidhi Sabha) under the first-past-the-post system was held on November 20. The remaining 110 members will be elected through proportional representation.

The Nepali Congress so far won 53 of the 165 seats and thus emerged as the single largest party, while its partners CPN (Maoist Centre) bagged 17 seats, CPN-Unified Socialist 10, Lokatantrik Samajwadi Party 4 and Rastriya Janamorcha 1.

Beijing, however, has not yet given up hope for installing a government led by the Communist Party of Nepal (United-Marxist-Leninist), which, led by former Prime Minister K P Sharma Oli, secured 42 seats, while its partners Rastriya Prajatantra Party (RPP) and Janata Samajwadi Party (JSP) won seven seats each.

The diplomats at the Embassy of China in Kathmandu are in touch with several key political leaders of Nepal in order to break the ruling coalition and give birth to a new alliance with the CPN (UML) at its core.

New Delhi’s relations with Kathmandu had suffered a setback after the erstwhile K P Sharma Oli’s government had ratcheted up the Nepal-India dispute over 400 sq km of land at the Lipulekh-Kalapani-Limpiyadhura area in 2020 – at a time when the Indian Army had been resisting the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s aggressive moves in eastern Ladakh.

The relations between India and Nepal however returned on track after Deuba succeeded Oli.