The 22 political parties in the ruling coalition have reached an understanding to field a common candidate for the chairperson of the Constitutional Committee (CC), the main committee in the Constituent Assembly.

The 22 parties reached the agreement during a meeting held at Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal's official residence, Baluwatar, Wednesday.

Raghuji Panta, a UML leader and PM Nepal's political advisor, said the 22 parties agreed to field a common candidate in the election of the CC chair to be held Aug 17. "But the name of the candidate was not discussed at the meeting," he said, informing that the parties will pick up the candidate after further discussion.

However, smaller parties proposed CPN (Marxist Leninist) chairman Chandra Prakash Mainali as the 'common candidate'.

Unified CPN (Maoist) and Nepali Congress have staked claim for the CC chair. The Maoist party has already named vice-chairman Dr Baburam Bhattarai as its candidate while NC has likely to field Nilambar Acharya for the post.

Meanwhile, in today's meeting, leaders of the 22 parties agreed to ask Vice President Parmananada Jha to take oath in Nepali, as ordered by the Supreme Court.

Deputy Prime Minister and chairman of Madhesi Janadhikar Forum (Loktantrik), Bajay Kumar Gachchhadar said that the parties concluded that the court's order on the VP's oath should be implemented.

He also informed that the government would bring a proposal to the parliament for amendment in the Interim Constitution to do away with the current provision on oath so that disputes do not arise in future. nepalnews.com