KATHMANDU, Aug 23: Constitution Drafting Committee Chairman Krishna Sitaula on Sunday tabled the revised draft of the constitution in the CA meeting amid protests by some disgruntled political parties.
The drafting committee revised the draft and converted it into a constitution bill based on suggestions by top leaders of the major parties. The leaders made changes in the number of provinces and their demarcation.
Earlier, the committee had prepared a draft that proposed eight provinces without delineation.
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Following feedback on the draft constitution, leaders had decided to go for the six-province model and also drew their boundaries.
As the demarcations of the six-province model sparked protests, they have proposed a seven-province model and asked the drafting committee to revise the draft accordingly.
Some other issues, including citizenship, the dispute over whether or not to declare the country as secular state and electoral threshold have yet to be decided. But the leaders have planned to finalize the provisions through amendments.
“As the CA has received the constitution bill, deliberations on the bill will start in the next CA meeting scheduled for Wednesday,” CA chair Subas Nembang said.
Sitaula, while presenting the draft constitution, urged the disgruntled parties not to avoid discussions on the national charter in the CA.
“We can’t rightly represent the people by walking out from the CA. We are from different backgrounds and represent different ideologies but the constitution is to be made keeping in view our national responsibility,” he said hinting at Madhesi parties that walked out of hall in the middle of the meeting.
Sitaula responded to lawmakers of Rastriya Prajatantra Party-Nepal (RPP-N) in a strongly-worded statement. “We can discuss other things but this CA can’t debate over the demand for reinstatement of monarchy,” said Sitaula.
