As Nepali political parties continue to bicker over the rules for the constituent assembly elections, former Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba will meet Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Tuesday where the latter will urge for all stakeholders to reach a consensus and hold elections at the earliest opportunity.
Deuba will reach Delhi on Sunday, four weeks after Nepali Maoist chief Prachanda was invited for tete-a-tete with the Indian leaders.
On Monday, he will meet with UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi, External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid and Foreign Secretary Ranjan Mathai.
He will hold discussions with the Prime Minister on Tuesday morning, and will give lecture on ‘Upcoming Constitutional Assembly Elections in Nepal’ at a Delhi-based think tank. With Nepal going through a prolonged period of political instability, India is hoping to persuade the main political parties to resolve their differences on the number of seats in the second constituent Assembly and threshold of vote for being elected.
India has publicly stated that it wants the elections to be held at the earliest, so that the current political uncertainty comes to an end.
The caretaker government, led by Chief Justice Khil Raj Regmi, has so far failed to announce dates to elect a new CA.
The dates had earlier been planned for July, then changed to November and now politicians are mentioning mid-December as a possible time.
Nepal has already conveyed to India that it would require big help from New Delhi in holding the CA elections, including supply of electronic voting machines and vehicles.
However, Indian official sources are skeptical about Nepal managing to hold elections this year.