NC for six-month CA term extension

KATHMANDU, May 17: Nepali Congress (NC) has decided to stand for extension of the Constituent Assembly (CA) term by six months.



A Central Working Committee (CWC) meeting of the party held at its headquarters at Sanepa on Monday took a decision to this effect, keeping in view the constitutional provision that stipulates a six-month extension after the CA´s two-year term expires on May 28. [break]



Talking to media persons after the meeting, NC Spokesperson Arjun Narsingh KC said the CWC meeting concluded that the country should not be left in a constitutional vacuum. “We have decided on a six-month extension as the Nepali Congress believes in constitutionalism,” he said.



KC argued that the time given by the people to draft the new constitution is two and half year, including the time under special circumstances. “Nepali Congress took a decision in accordance with the constitutional provision,” he added.



Article 64 of the Interim Constitution 2007 stipulates that the CA can be extended for up to an additional six months through a CA resolution in case the task of drafting the Constitution is not completed due to proclamation of a state of emergency in the country.



KC said that the position of the NC on extension of the CA term is, however, not rigid.



He clarified that the NC is flexible in its decision if the promulgation of a new constitution and conclusion of the peace process cannot be accomplished within the set deadline. The CWC meeting also decided to hold meetings with other political parties in the Constituent Assembly to find out their opinions on the CA term.



The CPN-UML has already made public its position, which is to extend the CA term by one year.



Though the members debated whether the CA term should be extended by six months or by a year, a proposal to extend the term by six months prevailed during Monday´s CWC meeting.



According to KC, the CWC meeting also endorsed working procedures, prepared by the Narahari Acharya-led committee, for settling the row that has surfaced at various district working committees.



koshraj@myrepublica.com

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