Loudest demand for direct election for key political positions

KATHMANDU, July 22: Feedback collection on the draft constitution concluded Tuesday evening with an encouraging participation of people from all walks of life across the country.

The feedback-collection campaign concluded in all forms, including public hearings conducted in the presence of senior leaders, lawmakers and government officials across the country.

While public hearings and interactions were held at different venues in all 240 constituencies, altogether 26,496 suggestions were registered at the CA’s feedback desk till 5 pm Tuesday.

Of them, 17,395 were sent through CA’s official website, 5,560 through email, 2,415 through toll-free telephone numbers, 973 through fax and the remaining 153 were sent either through postal service or submitted directly to the CA secretariat.

“It is estimated that around 65 percent of the suggestions were received from within the country and the remaining from Nepali citizens staying abroad,” Prem Giri, coordinator of the subcommittee tasked with preparing a report on public feedback, told Republica.
One registration may contain a single or many suggestions.

According to Giri, an individual has suggested as many as hundred changes to the draft constitution.

According to him, of all the 240 constituencies across the country, the CA secretariat received reports from 239. “Only a team from a constituency hasn’t sent the report so far,” said Giri. He, however, didn’t disclose the name of the constituency.

Similarly, the government teams in 16 constituencies conducted the task despite obstruction from dissident groups, he said.
He said his committee will categorize the feedback, process them and finally draw their synthesis before forwarding it to the concerned CA committees.

The committee members have planned to meet CA Chairman Subas Nembang and seek around three to four days for the task. After that, compilation of the feedback will be forwarded to the CA’s Constitutional Political Dialogue and Consensus Committee (CPDCC).

The committee will hold discussion among the party members and forward it, through the CA full House, to the Constitution Drafting Committee for improvement.

As public hearings were conducted in urban as well as far-flung villages with participation of representatives from all walks of life, suggestions received were diverse.

Some of the common suggestions include direct election for key political positions such as president, prime minister, lawmakers, and heads of ward committees of municipal or VDC committees.

College students, youth and other participants in several venues in the capital demanded direct election of representatives in central as well as local levels. Reports received from several parts of the country -- urban and rural alike -- reflected the same spirit. Large number of participants suggested to the leaders to reduce the number of provinces.

Another common demand among participants from several parts of the country was minimum academic criteria for those aspiring to hold key political positions from local to the central level.

Likewise, most of the participants were found lobbying for “religious freedom” instead of declaring Nepal as a “secular state”. Also, a significant number of participants demanded that Nepal should be reinstated as a Hindu state.