Big parties closer to accord on amendment

Published On: April 10, 2017 04:30 AM NPT By: Republica | @RepublicaNepal

Agree to resolve issue of province delineation through 'powerful' federal commission

KATHMANDU, April 9: After prolonged dispute on the contents of the constitution amendment, major political parties including the main opposition CPN-UML have come closer to agreement to introduce a new five-point amendment bill to address the grievances of the agitating Madhes-based parties.

Sources close to Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal said the prime minister is preparing to endorse the five-point amendment proposal prepared in coordination with the UML and the United Democratic Madhesi Front (UDMF) through a cabinet meeting likely to be held on Monday. The new bill will be endorsed through the cabinet within a few weeks should things go as planned.

As per the understanding reached between the main opposition party and the Madhes-based parties, the ruling parties have reached an agreement to withdraw the seven-point amendment bill already tabled in parliament and replace it with a new five-point bill that leaves the issue of changing federal delineations to be resolved by a powerful federal commission. The commission will have constitutional recognition and will be entrusted with settling the disputes within a three-month period.

On November 30, the government had registered a seven-point amendment bill in parliament to address the demands of the Madhes-based parties. The bill proposed to remove all hill districts (i.e. Palpa, Gulmi, Arghakhanchi, Rukum, Rolpa and Pyuthan) from Province 5 to ensure that it included only the plains districts stretching from Nawalparasi in the east to Bardiya in the west.

Likewise, the bill proposed to elect 35 of the total 56 members of the upper house on the basis of population, while ensuring at least three members each from all the provinces. Earlier, the constitution had a provision for electing eight upper house members each from all seven provinces.

On the question of marital naturalized citizenship, the amendment bill in parliament proposed to grant naturalized citizenship as per federal law after a foreign woman married to a Nepali national initiates the process of renouncing citizenship in her country of origin. In terms of the language of official business, it proposed to retain in the annex of the constitution all languages said to be languages of official business by the Language Commission.

Currently, the constitution has a provision for selecting one more national language spoken by a majority of people in the respective province as a language of official business, as provided by provincial law.

Although the amendment bill had received wider acceptance by the agitating Madhes-based parties, it could not be endorsed mainly because there was strong local protest in various districts in Provinces- 4 and 5 against changes in province delineations. The UML-led nine-party opposition alliance also vowed to foil the bill, terming it anti-national.

As such, the government is preparing to introduce a new proposal on constitution amendment, leaving the issue of federal delineations to be resolved by a federal delineation commission.

According to leaders involved in preparing the draft of the new amendment bill, the government is leaving intact the amendment proposal on the issues of representation in the national assembly, marital naturalized citizenship and official languages.

However, the fresh bill will include a new proposal to amend Article 274 to allow changes in the boundary of provinces should a majority of lawmakers of the province concerned give their consent. Likewise, the government will amend Article 86 to disfranchise the chiefs and deputy chiefs of municipalities and rural municipalities in the election of members of the national assembly, as per the demands of the Madhes-based parties.

The endorsement of the proposed amendments through parliament is likely to pave the way for the Madhes-based parties to participate in the upcoming local elections. “Delineation of provinces is one of our key demands. We will first see what the terms of reference of the proposed federal commission will be. But if the constitution is amended as agreed within a week or so we are ready to take part in the local level elections scheduled for May 14,” said General Secretary of Tarai Madhes Samajbadi Party (TMSP) Keshav Jha.