Madhes-based parties want at least 46 pc local units in Tarai

Pressure PM to put off local bodies commission report

KATHMANDU, Dec 21: Expressing serious dissatisfaction over the possible number of local units in the tarai, the agitating Madhes-based parties are pressuring Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal not to receive the report of the commission formed to restructure local units under the federal system.

According to one Madhesi leader, the United Democratic Madhesi Front (UDMF) has been suggesting to the PM to issue new terms of reference to the commission. The Madhesi leader also said that the UDMF wants at least 46 percent of the local units to be in the tarai.

Sadbhavana Party Chairman Rajendra Mahato also said that the UDMF in principle wants the local units to remain under the federal provinces. "In principle, we want local restructuring to take place under the initiation of the province. If the commission is to determine the number and boundaries of local units, the number should be proportionate to the population," he said.

National Madhes Socialist Party General Secretary Keshav Jha said the number of local units should be fixed proportionately with the population since the Constitution includes village council chairmen and vice-chairmen as well as mayors and deputy mayors of municipalities in the electoral college for electing the members of the national assembly.

"Whenever we talk about elections, we should understand that it is related to representation," he said adding, "On the one hand, the Constitution has provisions for including village council chairmen and vice-chairmen as well as mayors and deputy mayors of municipalities in the electoral college, and on the other the commission is ignoring the population factor while fixing the number of local units."

Article 86 of the new Constitution states that an electoral college composed of members of the provincial assemblies, the chairpersons and vice-chairpersons of village bodies and mayors and deputy-mayors of municipalities shall elect members of the national assembly.

"We have suggested to the PM to issue new terms of reference to the commission rather than accept the report it has now prepared," said Jha.

However, the commission led by former secretary Balananda Paudel has already finalized its report and is seeking time from the PM to submit it to him.

"The commission has finalized its report and at our last meeting with the PM we asked for time on Wednesday to submit it," commission member Dormani Paudel told Republica Tuesday. "He said he would arrange time and inform the commission but we are yet to be informed," he added.

While the commission has finalized its report, Madhes-based parties and the ruling Nepali Congress have been expressing serious dissatisfaction over the criteria for fixing the number and demarcations of the local units.

These parties had reached an understanding on Saturday to defer accepting the commission report. Following this, Nepali Congress President Sher Bahadur Deuba has been arguing that the elections for local units should be held under the existing structures.

"It is useless to talk about local elections without amending the Constitution, and we have serious objections over the commission's working style and criteria," argued Sadbhavana Chairman Mahato. Though the tarai districts have more than 51 percent of the population, the commission is allocating two-third of the local units to the hill and mountain districts, he said.

"Either the constitutional provision should be amended and village chairpersons and vice-chairpersons and mayors and deputy mayors excluded from the electoral college or the number of local units should be fixed on the basis of population," added National Madesh Socialist Party General Secretary Jha.

Jha said the Madhes-based parties can settle for at least 46 percent of local units in the terai districts.

"We are not saying the number should be directly proportionate with the population," he said, adding," We can consider four to five percent for geography, otherwise population should be the major factor for fixing the number of local units."