The CA members began pounding the tables and shouting at the top of their voices and everybody present feared that a fist-fight would ensue between Nepali Congress (NC) and Unified Marxist-Leninist (UML) CA members on one side and UCPN (Maoist) members on the other. But the situation come under control after committee chairman Sambhu Hajara Dusad, who is an NC CA member, announced that the dispute would be discussed and settled after lunch. Later, the members decided to take a final decision in the presence of CA Chairman Subas Nembang.
The CA committee had held a vote to pick systems of governance and elections from among proposals made by the UCPN (M), Nepali Congress (NC), UML and the Tarai Madhes Democratic Party (TMDP). Of the 38 votes cast during the poll, the Maoists had 18 votes, NC and UML together 16 and TMDP 3, while four members - three from Madhesi People´s Rights Forum (Democratic) and one from Rastryia Prajatantra Party (RPP) - were absent. The NC and UML had formed an alliance to counter the Maoist proposal, combining the NC´s system of governance and UML´s system of election.
A heated dispute erupted after the Maoists claimed that they were the winners as they garnered the largest share of votes -- 18 against the NC and UML´s 16. But the latter two, citing CA regulations, argued that the Maoist party was not the winner as it failed to garner more than 50 percent of the total vote cast. The ruling parties argued that all the proposals should be included in the committee´s concept paper and preliminary draft as the committee´s decision.
The existing CA regulations state that the proposal that gains a majority of votes will be written in as the official decision of the committee, while the other views will also be recorded as dissenting opinions. But the regulations are silent on what happens if no proposal commands a clear majority.
The situation turned nasty after NC CA member Dr Prakash Sharan Mahat snatched a paper being read by committee chairman Dusad, fearing that he was about to declare the Maoist proposal the official one. “It is against decency and regulations to snatch a paper being read by the committee chairman. It is an insult to all of us,” cried Maoist CA member Giriraj Mani Pokharel pointing his finger at Dr Mahat, while the others started pounding the tables and shouting.
Dusad was reading a paper that stated: “As the proposal of the UCPN (Maoist) garnered the largest share of votes, I ask your opinion whether that proposal could be written in the preliminary draft and concept paper to be prepared by the committee.” The situation came under control after some members asked the chairman to postpone the meeting for lunch.
“The problem is due mainly to lack of provisions to deal with such a situation. The drafters of the regulations did not think that such confrontational situations would arise,” said CA spokesperson Mukunda Sharma, who is also secretary of the committee. The thematic committees´ decisions about constitutional provisions hold little real meaning as all such provisions have to be endorsed by a two-third majority of the CA to be enshrined in the new constitution. “It is more a matter of prestige than a real exercise in constitution-making,” said a CA secretariat official.
During the vote, NC CA member Pradip Giri cast his ballot against the Maoist proposal but did not vote in favor of the NC-UML alliance either, saying indirect election of the executive prime minister cannot bring much-needed political stability.
In the 43 member committee, the UCPN (Maoist) has 18 votes, NC 8, UML 8, MPRF (Democratic) 3, TMDP 2 and CPN (ML), and Sadbhawana, RPP and Sabhawana-Anandidevi one each.
The proposals
Maoists: Direct election of executive president, cabinet formation based on consensus, multi-member constituencies, and unicameral legislature
NC and UML: Indirect election of executive prime minister and ceremonial president, bicameral legislature, mixed-member proportional electoral system
TMDP: Indirect election of executive president and mixed-member proportional electoral system
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