Skip to main content

Poll only after amendment: PM to Madhes parties

Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal has assured the agitating Madhes-based political parties that the government would hold the local-level election only after amending the constitution.

During a meeting with the top leaders of the agitating parties at his official residence in Baluwatar on Tuesday, Prime Minister Dahal made the assurance after Madhes-based parties warned that they would not support the election if it is held without amending the constitution.

General Secretary of the National Madhes Socialist Party (NMSP) Keshav Jha said there has been an understanding that the government would not announce the date for local-level poll without the consent of the Madhes-based parties. Top leaders of the Madhes-based parties at the meeting had rejected the prime minister’s proposal to announce poll date before the amendments in the constitution.

Prime Minister Dahal had argued that it would be appropriate to announce the date of election right away as it may take some time to amend the constitution.
  
The prime minister has promised revision of the amendment bill, which is already under discussion in parliament. “Prime Minister Dahal has suggested either revising the existing amendment bill or bringing a supplementary amendment, to address our concerns,” said chief whip of Federal Socialist Forum Nepal (FSFN) Shivaji Yadav.

The prime minister specifically made a proposal to remove the constitutional provision that recognizes chiefs and deputy chiefs of village councils and municipalities as members of the electoral colleges that elects national assembly, president and vice president. The meeting decided to form a committee that includes a representative each from the Nepali Congress, CPN (Maoist Center) and the agitating United Democratic Madhesi Front, according to NMSP General Secretary Jha. 

The delineation of local units in Province 2 also figured during the meeting. Jha said there has also been an agreement to form a task force by the cabinet to revise the report submitted by Balananda Paudel-led commission on local level restructuring. The task force will add a few village councils to Province 2 as Madhes-based parties have maintained that the provision to keep the village council chiefs and deputy chiefs in the Electoral College undermines the principle of population-based representation.

Chairman of Sadbhawana Party Rajendra Mahato said the proposal of prime minister to revise the amendment bill is positive. “We have clearly told the prime minister that we will be supporting election only if it is held after amending the constitution,” he said.


MyRepublica
25/01/2017

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

India Government raises grant for Nepal by 17 percent

India Government raises grant for Nepal by 17 percent The Indian government has pledged to extend 17 percent more in financial aid to Nepal in the next fiscal year, indicating greater enthusiasm of the southern neighbour to support the landlocked country’s development endeavours. The Indian government has allocated a grant of IRs3.75 billion (Rs6 billion) for Nepal in 2017-18, as against IRs3.20 in 2016-17. The allocation was made through the Union Budget 2017-18 launched by Indian Finance Minister Arjun Jaitely on Wednesday.  In addition to the amount, India has also pledged to extend a grant of IRs113.30 million to Nepal Police Academy in 2017-18, the Indian budget document says. The grant pledged for Nepal in 2017-18 is second highest among South Asian countries, with Bhutan leading the pack. The Indian government has expressed commitment to extend IRs37.14 billion in grant to Bhutan in 2017-18. The amount, however, is 4 percent lower than in 2016-17. In total, Ind...
Post a Comment
Read more

Nepal to discuss new power trade guidelines with India

The Energy Ministry is planning to hold talks with the Indian Power Ministry over its recently issued discriminatory guidelines on cross-border power trade which prohibit private and third country hydropower developers in Nepal from exporting electricity to India with a one-time approval. According to the Guidelines on Cross-Border Trade of Electricity published by the Indian government last Monday, only companies in Nepal which are wholly owned by the Indian government or the public sector, or private companies with a 51 percent or higher Indian stake would be eligible to export power to India. These companies will be given a one-time approval to sell power to India, according to the guidelines. Also, companies owned or controlled by the Nepali government will be allowed to sell power to India after getting a one-time approval from the Indian authorities, according to the new rules. However, private companies owned by Nepali or third country developers wishing to export power to...
Post a Comment
Read more

Protests, clashes in Province 5 districts over demarcations

With the government bent on tabling the constitution amendment bill in parliament, protests have intensified again in various districts of western and mid-western regions after a gap of few days. Protests that had been toned down earlier in view of the hardships caused to the locals, have now been intensified from Friday with an announcement of a three-day general strike in all districts of Province 5. 'Joint struggle committees' comprising leaders of major political parties in the districts--Nawalparasi, Rupandehi, Kapilvastu, Dang, Banke, Bardiya, Rukum, Rolpa, Pyuthan, Arghakhanchi, Gulmi and Palpa--announced the strike against government preparations to table the amendment proposal in parliament. The strike has largely affected vehicular movement while schools, government offices, factories and markets remained closed.  Tensions ran high in Gulmi, Nepalgunj of Banke and Rolpa after the protestors prevented locals from using all kinds of vehicles. Over 24 prot...
Post a Comment
Read more