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Updated: Feb 08, 2018 23:13 IST

The leftist alliance in Nepal has swept the National Assembly elections by securing 40 of the 56 seats in the upper house of Parliament, according to results announced by the Election Commission on Thursday.

The election to the National Assembly was held on Wednesday, almost two months after the conclusion of polls to the House of Representatives and provincial assemblies.

The CPN-UML led by KP Sharma Oli, who is widely tipped to be the next premier, won 27 seats and its ally, the CPN-Maoist Center led by Pushpa Kamal Dahal “Prachanda” secured 13 seats.

The ruling Nepali Congress bagged just 12 seats, and the Federal Socialist Forum Nepal and Rastriya Janata Party Nepal won two seats each.

The conclusion of elections to the upper house of Parliament has paved the way for the formation of the new government. But completing all formalities related to the announcement of complete election results will take another 10 days, according to the poll panel.

Of the 2,056 members of the electoral college, a total of 1,677 eligible voters – including 1,234 chiefs and deputy chiefs and 443 provincial assembly members – voted to elect 32 members of the upper house while 24 members were elected unopposed ahead of the election.

In Province 2, all eight members were elected unopposed while 16 members were elected unopposed from six other provinces. Fifty-two members of 13 parties had contested the election and candidates were elected under the single transferable voting system.

“After all elections results are out by the next weekend, the formation of the new government will begin,” law minister Yagya Bahadur Thapa said. As soon as President Bidhya Devi Bhandari authenticates the results of the National Assembly polls, Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuab will put in his papers, paving the way for Oli to form government, he said.

As CPN-UML does not have a majority in Parliament, the party will seek support from the CPN-Maoist Center to form the government. The two parties are in talks for a merger but have made little headway so far.

According to constitutional provisions, the president will appoint the prime minister and convene the first sessions of the House of Representatives and the National Assembly within 30 days of the results of polls to the lower house.

The Election Commission has written to the national parties on Thursday to provide the list of their women candidates to be elected to the House of Representatives under the proportional representation system. One-third of the 110 seats in the lower house have been reserved for women.

Once the composition of the House of Representatives is completed, the results of all elections to the provincial and federal assemblies formally announced by the Election Commission will be authenticated by the president.