Nepal: Pro India Sher Bahadur Deuba-led Coalition Likely To Form Govt

Dec 13, 2022, 12:53 IST

KATHMANDU: Sher Bahadur Deuba-led coalition is likely to form the next government in Nepal.The Dueba-led Nepali Congress coalition has 132 seats and he needs around 10 more to form the government. A senior Nepali Congress leader, Deuba defeated an independent candidate Sagar Dhakal by a margin of over 12 thousand votes.

The parliamentary and provincial elections were held on the 20th of November in Nepal. It was the second general election since the promulgation of the constitution in 2015.

With the process of counting votes almost done, a report would be submitted by Nepal’s Election Commission to President Bidhya Devi Bhandari at 5 pm on December 12. After going through the party lists and numbers, the President will invite them to the Parliament (on December 13) to share their result and those with the maximum numbers will form the government. The formation can take a week or less as decided by the President, as per reports in the TNIE.

If the Deuba-led government comes to power this will enable smooth ties with India. This is pertinent to note that with the Chinese standoff and its proximity to Nepal, India needs an ally in the Himalayan country.

India’s main concerns are the growing influence of China in their infrastructure development and the issue of Chinese and Pakistani infiltrators from the Nepal border. New power projects like Seti and Pancheswar are being developed by India at present. If Deuba is sworn in as the Prime Minister, diplomatic and bilateral ties with India will improve.

Meanwhile, the Embassy of India and the Nepal government's Ministry of Federal Affairs and General Administration signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on December 12. The MoU was signed for undertaking three projects in Nepal under the grant assistance of the Indian government, one each in the education, healthcare, and drinking water sectors. The Embassy of India in Kathmandu in the press release noted that the construction of these projects will provide better education, healthcare, and drinking water facilities for people in Nepal. It stressed that India and Nepal share wide-ranging and multi-sectoral cooperation.

Today, @IndiaInNepal & @mofaganepal signed an MoU for 3 HICDP projects in Nepal under GoI grant in Edu, Health & Drinking Water Sectors in Udayapur, Solukhumbu & Dhading respectively, at a total estimated cost of NRs. 101.79 million@MEAIndia #IndiaNepalFriendship @MofaNepal pic.twitter.com/1ort4hFzzi

— IndiaInNepal (@IndiaInNepal) December 12, 2022