Kathmandu, February 7:

Speakers at an interaction on ‘Proportional election system for constituent assembly’ organised by a number of civil organisations termed simultaneous demands of proportional representation and reforming population-based constituencies as “contradictory”.

Bhimarjun Acharya, constitution expert, said: “Proportional representation system is the best one. However, if we go for proportional representation, we cannot go for population-based constituencies. Only one of the two systems can be possible.”

Acharya said: “The government and political parties have not completely understood the meaning of the system of representation. Therefore, they are not clear about addressing the demands for the two election systems.

The speakers criticised the drawbacks of vertical listing of the candidates for the election. A member of the interim legislature, Malla K Sundar, said: “Publishing the vertical list of candidates for election is destined to fail to represent the marginalised groups that are sure to be at the bottom of the list.” He said the listing should be horizontal to incorporate different groups.

He focused on the need to replace the 205 seats with adult-franchise and introduce a fully inclusive election system.

Sundar added: “Leading parties are nevertheless reluctant to change their outdated conviction on population-based constituencies, as they fear that going for a proportional system of election will reduce the number of seats they are likely to get in the existing election system.”

“If the constituent assembly polls are not conducted within stipulate time, it will never take place,” Laxam Prasad Aryal, former Supreme Court justice, said. He added that the ongoing Terai unrest is a very dangerous symptom that can delay the CA polls. He urged the government to take a prompt decision on the demands of the Terai outfits.