• First draft of constitution to be  prepared within 15 days

KATHMANDU: The Constituent Assembly on Friday sent the Constitutional Political Dialogue and Consensus Committee’s report that it received the previous day to the Constitutional Drafting Committee, giving it 15 days to prepare the first draft of the constitution. CA Chairman Subas Chandra Nembang issued directives to the CDC to prepare the first draft of the constitution as per the political agreement reached on constitutional issues — federalism, forms of governance, judicial system and electoral system — and consensus forged at the CPDCC.

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Nembang also directed CDC to incorporate Preamble, provisions related to the amendment to the constitution and formation of parliamentary panel to investigate whether the office bearers of constitutional bodies, including the chief justice, performed their duties as per the law or not, in relevant articles of the constitution. Nembang also told the CA panel to incorporate provisions related to inclusiveness and proportional representation in relevant articles. The CA decided to send the report to the CDC with majority members backing it after Nembang asked the CA members to vote on the proposal to send the report to CDC. Responding to CA members’ concerns, CPDCC Chairman Baburam Bhattarai said the signatories of 16-point agreement tried to garner support of maximum number of stakeholders but all-party consensus was impossible. He agreed that the rights guaranteed to the people of the country by the Interim Constitution should not be curtailed in the new constitution. He said efforts should also be made to incorporate the suggestions of CA members while the CDC prepared the draft of the constitution. Several CA members took part in the debate held on the CPDCC report with most of them supporting the report while a few made critical comments.