Nepal PM Sher Bahadur Deuba 'impatient to hand over power' after losing polls to Communist alliance

Kathmandu: Nepal’s Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba, whose party lost the recent polls to provincial assemblies and parliament, is “impatient to hand over power” to a new government after completing the due constitutional process, according to a media report on Wednesday. The Nepali Congress chief said his government had successfully held the polls to the local bodies, provincial assemblies and parliament in an environment of fear and uncertainties, a report in the Kathmandu Post said. Claiming that the NC has a history of successfully handling periods of political transition, he said, “The government is able to establish the country as a peaceful and democratic nation by ending the protracted transitional period.” [caption id=“attachment_4277445” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Representational image. Reuters[/caption] “I am impatient to hand over power,” he was quoted as saying, while inaugurating the 14th Elephant Festival in Chitwan yesterday. The Deuba-led Nepali Congress (NC) stood third — behind the CPN-UML and the CPN (Maoist Centre) — in the historic parliamentary and provincial assembly polls by winning just 23 seats out of a total 165 seats under the first-past-the-post (FPTP) system. An alliance of left parties — the CPN-UML and the CPM-Maoist Centre — has won a total of 116 seats. The NC had emerged as the largest party in the 2013 Constituent Assembly elections by winning 105 seats under the FPTP. The prime minister said his government had focused solely on holding the elections for implementing the Constitution without caring for partisan interests. “The NC is always committed to the development of Nepal and Nepalis whether or not it is in government,” Deuba was quoted as saying in the report.