KATHMANDU, Aug 13: A meeting of 22 political parties on Thursday decided to field a common candidate for the post of the chairman of the Constitutional Committee of the Constituent Assembly (CA). [break]
The parties took the decision four days before the election of the post, which has remained vacant since the then chairman Madhav Kumar Nepal became the prime minister in May.
During the meeting held at the prime minister´s residence at Baluwatar, Kathmandu, Nepali Congress asked the political parties to support its candidate, who has yet to be named, for the post.
“We asked the parties to support our candidate and also persuade the Maoists into supporting the candidate,” said Nepali Congress leader Krishna Sitaula, who attended the meeting.
He further said that party president Girija Prasad Koirala would name the party´s candidate on Friday. But the party has already readied CA member Nilamber Acharya as its candidate for the post.
Unified Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist), which has already decided to field its Vice Chairman Dr Babu Ram Bhattarai for the post, was not present at the 22-party meeting.
“The parties will decide on the claim of the Nepali Congress for the post,” said Raghuji Pant, the prime minister´s principal advisor.
The CA regulations require that the post should not remain vacant for more than one month. The delay in electing the chairman of the committee has affected the constitution-writing process.
While forwarding its claim for the post, Nepali Congress argued that the key CA posts like chairman and vice chairman are from Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist-Leninist) and Unified CPN (Maoist) respectively although Nepali Congress is the second largest party in the Constituent Assembly.
Sources said the parties are likely to support the Nepali Congress candidate.
However, former Prime Minister and Rastriya Janashakti Party Chairman Surya Bahadur Thapa said that the post should be left for a candidate from smaller parties like his.
Parties support SC ruling on Jha oath controversy
The meeting also decided to respect the Supreme Court verdict on the oath of Paramananda Jha, whose oath has been nullified by the Supreme Court. “We deicide to respect the court´s order while respecting one´s rights to take oath in their mother tongue,” Deputy Prime Minister Bijaya Kumar Gachchhadar told reporters on the oath controversy after the meeting.
A leader said that majority of the parties at the meeting were of the opinion that Jha should first take oath in Nepali as ordered by the apex court and the constitution should be amended later so as to introduce the provision of allowing oath-taking in mother tongue.
The oath of Jha is in controversy after Jha refused to retake oath of office and secrecy after the court nullified his oath in Hindi in July. On Wednesday, the apex court ordered the government to furnish details of the progress made toward administering a fresh oath to Jha within seven days.
“A decision on the oath controversy will be taken soon after consulting the attorney general and legal experts,” said Pant.
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