Likely to be forwarded to a parliamentary panel
KATHMANDU, Jan 8: The process of endorsement for the bill to amend the new constitution is set to be prolonged for a few weeks as a large number of lawmakers have demanded changes in the amendment bill.
Altogether 25 amendment proposals had been registered at the parliament secretariat when the 72-hour deadline given by parliament for lawmakers to submit their proposals expired on Thursday.
When the deadline ended, the largest number of lawmakers demanding changes in the bill were found to be from the Nepali Congress even though it was the NC-led previous government that had registered the amendment bill.
The then NC-led government registered the amendment bill with a view to addressing the grievances of agitating Madhes-based parties. But the dissident parties have termed the amendment bill unclear and incomplete.
Though the highest number of lawmakers seeking changes in the bill were from the main opposition NC, the highest number of amendment proposals were registered by the ruling UCPN (Maoist).
Altogether 83 NC lawmakers and 10 from UCPN (Maoist) sought changes in the amendment bill. No lawmaker from the ruling CPN-UML has registered any amendment proposal as the party had issued a whip not to do so.
Given the huge number of amendment proposals, the bill is likely to be forwarded to a parliamentary committee for detailed discussions before it is forwarded to the full House for endorsement.
NC lawmaker Radheshyam Adhikari said the bill is likely to be forwarded either to the bills committee or to a special committee, by the next House meeting. Deputy spokesperson at the parliament secretariat Sudarshan Kuinkel said that a special committee is likely to be formed. The speaker can forge a political understanding and send the bill and the amendemnt proposals to a parliamentary committee.
Once it is forwarded to a committee, the process of endorsing the bill will become prolonged.
A joint proposal registered by NC's Farmullah Mansur with the support of 38 other lawmakers from the same party has demanded a reduction in the number of communities that qualify for reservation quotas, as per the constitutional provision on inclusive proportional representation, from 17 to 12.
Similarly, NC leader Bimalendra Nidhi has submitted another amendement proposal to Articles 84(1) and 286 (5 and 6), with the signatures of 32 lawmakers from his party. The proposal has demanded delimitation of electoral constituencies mainly on the basis of population. A NC leader claimed that separate amendment proposals were registered from the same party because of factional disputes in the party. Mansur represents the Sushil
Koirala faction of the party while Nidhi represents the Sher Bahadur Deuba panel.
Similarly, Minendra Rijal, with support from nine other lawmakers, demanded delimitation of electoral constituencies leaving at least one constituency intact in each district. Romi Gauchan of the same party, who hails from Mustang, demanded that the existing constituencies in the remote hill districts should be kept intact.
Similarly, 10 lawmakers from the UCPN (Maoist) have registered an amendment proposal to the same provision in Article 42(1) of the new constitution.
"We all have demanded reservations for the economically backward and workers and poor peasants, under the proportional and inclusive representation quotas," said Ram Narayan Bidari. Bidari, Daljeet BK Sripaili, Lal Bahadur Gurung, Radhika Tamang, Rupa Maharjan, Pratikshya Tiwari and others have registered separate amendment proposals to the same provision, with almost the same demands.
Yogendra Chaudhari of Madhesi People's Right Forum Democratic (MPRF-D) has demanded delimitation of electoral constituencies based on population. Also, some other lawmakers from the fringe parties, including Jaydev Joshi of CPN (Samyukta), Seema Kumari BK of Janamukti Party Democratic and Haricharan Sah of Janata Dal, have also registered separate amendment proposals to the amendment bill.
The amendment bill seeks amendments to Articles 42, 84 and 286 of the new constitution of Nepal.
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