Such an understanding was reached at the four-party meeting held at the official residence of Prime Minister Sushil Koirala in Baluwatar on Sunday keeping in view the feedback received from various quarters on the draft constitution."There has been an understanding among four parties to put maximum efforts to settle boundaries of proposed federal provinces before promulgating the new statute. We discussed opting for a mid-way solution to the issue," said NC Joint General Secretary Purna Bahadur Khadka.
The meeting also discussed details of suggestions received from various quarters during feedback collection on the draft statute. Important among them include replacing the word secularism with "religious freedom" in the new statute, reducing the number of federal provinces and number of parliamentarians in both federal and provincial assemblies, threshold for seats under proportional representation electoral system and direct election of ward chairman.
Khadka said a large number of people suggested that boundaries of proposed federal provinces must be settled through the Constituent Assembly during feedback collection process. "Although the issue is not easy to settle, we have reached an understanding to put maximum efforts to settle boundaries before promulgation of the new statute," Khadka further said.
The understanding among top leaders of major political parties comes at a time when Madhes-based parties are taking to the streets demanding delineation of provinces before the promulgation of the new statute. Major political parties have agreed to promulgate the new statute by mid-August.
The parties, however, reached an understanding to possibly incorporate all suggestions on the 16-point deal that paved the way for parties to come up with the draft constitution. "We have decided to review the suggestions and incorporate them in the spirit of the 16-point agreement between the four major parties. But subverting the 16-point agreement altogether is not possible," said Khadka.
A team of constitutional experts are quietly working to improve grammatical and other linguistic aspects of the draft constitution. The same team will be entrusted with incorporating people's suggestions on the draft statute within the next four-five days.
The meeting chaired by Nepali Congress (NC) President and Prime Minister Sushil Koirala was attended by CPN-UML Chairman K P Sharma Oli, UCPN (M) Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal, Madhesi People's Rights Forum-Democratic (MPRF-D) Chairman Bijaya Kumar Gachchhadar and senior leaders of all the four parties.
Talking to the media after the meeting, MPRF-D Chairman Gachchhadar said the new constitution will be promulgated by mid-August. "This could meam any date before mid-August," he said. Gachchhadar also added that they held preliminary discussions on the draft constitution on Sunday. "Top leaders of all major political parties will sit together again on Monday morning and try to settle all the issues of the new statute," he further said.
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