A meeting of the HLPC held at its secretariat in New Baneshwar on Sunday also decided to gear up election campaign while continuing efforts to bring the agitating parties onboard the election process. “We have concluded that the CPN-Maoist is not honest about holding talks,” a senior leader present at the meeting told Republica on condition of anonymity. [break]
The meeting also concluded that CPN-Maoist´s proposal to forge an alliance with former king and party chairman Mohan Baidya´s remarks that it doesn´t require a CA to draft the new constitution were aimed at thwarting fresh CA elections and preventing institutionalization of the achievements such as federalism, secularism and republic made through the historic Janaandolan II held in April, 2006.
Talking to the media persons after the meeting, UCPN (Maoist) leader Narayan Kaji Shrestha said, “HLPC has expressed surprise and sadness over the unwillingness of the CPN-Maoist and its allies to hold talks,” he said.
While appealing to all the agitating parties to sit for unconditional talks to help create environment conducive to polls, HLPC also denounced recent attacks on political leaders in various districts including Bajhang, Parsa and Mahottari. The meeting also concluded that the attacks on political leaders were aimed at vitiating the environment for polls.
The HLPC meeting also discussed the recent activities of former monarch in various parts of the country and the possibility of agitating parties coming on board the election process.
“There is consensus among parties that the Upendra Yadav-led Federal Democratic Forum, Ashok Rai-led Federal Socialist Party as well other parties will join the election process if HLPC addresses some of their genuine demands. But the CPN-Maoist is unlikely to join the process no matter what,” a Nepali Congress (NC) leader told Republica.
Sources said though NC and CPN-UML leaders are still opposed to revisions in the 25-point ordinance, the UCPN (Maoist) and United Democratic Madhesi Front (UDMF) have proposed some amendments to the ordinance to address the concerns of the agitating parties. They argued that many of the agitating parties that are now part of the Baidya-led alliance may eventually join the election process if some amendments were made in the ordinance as they already have registered with the Election Commission.
Complication in Election Constituency Delineation
Asking top leaders to forge consensus without overstepping the Interim Constitution 2007, members of taskforce formed earlier by HLPC briefed about the constitutional difficulties facing fresh delineation of electoral constituencies.
The taskforce members briefed to HLPC that four different constitutional provisions relating to fresh delineation of election constituencies were contradictory, making it difficult for them to take any concrete decision. While one such provision states that the election constituencies will be delineated in line with the population, another constitutional provision bars delineation on the basis of population. “There are some hurdles in election constituency delineation. HLPC will take some decision after holding internal consultations,” said Shrestha.
According to the 2011 census, the total population in Dhanusha, Morang and Saptari has sharply declined while the populations in Kathmandu, Lalitpur, Bhaktapur, Kailali, Sunsari, Rupandehi and Sarlahi districts have gone up.
While the Interim Constitution bars any decision on changing the number of seats under the Fist-Past-the-Post electoral system (FPTP), parties in the 25-point ordinance endorsed by the President Dr Ram Baran Yadav have agreed to limit the total CA seats to 491.
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