In a meeting of the Constitutional Committee (CC) held in Singha Durbar on Wednesday afternoon, top leaders of the UCPN (Maoist), Nepali Congress (NC), CPN-UML and the United Democratic Madhesi Front (UDMF) made the request for extension, arguing that Dispute Resolution Subcommittee needs two more days to resolve the remaining contentious issues.[break]
This is the third time that the political parties have sought extension of the deadline for resolving the remaining outstanding issues in constitution writing. The parties had earlier sought an extension of five days and then another extension of three days.
As the latest deadline expired on Wednesday, the parties could not arrive at consensus on the disputed issues and sought a two-day extension which will expire on Friday.
“We briefed the Constitutional Committee about the progress made in the last three days while seeking the extension,” said CPN-UML Chairman Jhalanath Khanal, emerging from the meeting.
Following the request from the top leaders, the CC decided to urge the Business Advisory Committee to grant the extension.
“The CC meeting accepted the request as the leaders expressed committment to table a report of the Subcommittee on Saturday,” said Nilamber Acharya, chairman of the CC.
The next meeting of the CC has been called for Saturday morning, according to Acharya.
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