Saying that Nepali Congress (NC) and CPN-UML leaders misinterpreted the understanding reached among the taskforce members, UCPN (Maoist) leaders on Monday said that they would be ready to downsize the CA only if other parties dropped the new provisions proposed in the draft ordinance on election laws. [break]
Both the sides claim that they are ready to find solution based on the 11-point political agreement and 25-point understanding reached among the four major political forces on March 13 but their interpretations differ.
CPN-UML Chairman Jhalanath Khanal, who also heads the HLPC, told reporters after the meeting on Monday that the parties agreed to downsize the CA to 491 members. ´We are yet to settle differences over other provisions such as the threshold criteria,´ said Khanal.
However, UCPN (Maoist) leader Khimlal Devkota, accused NC and UML leaders of misinterpreting the understanding reached among the taskforce members.
´We had agreed in principle to seek solution based on 11-point and 25-point documents but they [NC and UML leaders] want to pick only the provision of downsizing the CA as per the two documents while they want to include new provisions such as threshold, making property details public even as they are not mentioned in those agreements,´ Devkota told Republica.
He accused NC and UML leaders of interpreting the understanding as per their own convenience.
Devkota explained that they are ready to downsize the CA only if other parties agree to drop the proposed new provisions and retain the rest of the provisions practiced in the 2008 CA polls.
But NC leader Ram Sharan Mahat accused UCPN (Maoist) of misinterpreting the understanding reached at the taskforce meeting.
´What we had agreed at the taskforce meeting is to implement the 11-point and 25-point documents without making any changes and forge consensus on other issues based on mutual understanding. That means there is no point in disputing over the proposal to downsize the CA to 491 members,´ said Mahat.
In the meantime, UCPN (Maoist) Vice-chairman Baburam Bhattarai set out his frustrations thus in his twitter account: ´I now feel ashamed&helpless attending the ritual of HLPC meeting, listening the same old rhetoric&walking down the suicidal path of no elctn´.
The 11-point political deal reached among the major four political forces -- UCPN (Maoist), the NC, CPN-UML and the UDMF -- on March 13 proposed to downsize the CA to 491 members. As per the agreement, 240 members will be elected directly from electoral constituencies, other 240 will be nominated under the proportional quota and other 11 members will be appointed by the government.
UCPN (Maoist), UDMF and some other fringe parties are against the downsize proposal while the NC, UML and few other parties are in favor of the proposal. The Maoist and Madhes-based parties, among others, have also opposed the proposed ratio of the seat allocations, which is almost in 50 percent ratio. They insist on retaining the provision practiced in CA election in 2008, when around 56 percent (335) of total (601) seats were allocated under the proportional representation quota.
The draft ordinance includes some new provisions such as threshold criteria and barring candidates with criminal background from contesting the election, among other things. UCPN (Maoist), Madhesh-based parties and some other fringe parties are against the new criteria while NC, UML and few other parties are in favor.
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