Kathmandu, January 3:

A delegation of the newly-formed Tarai-Madhes Democratic Party (TMDP), led by party president Mahantha Thakur, today handed over an 11-point memorandum

to Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala and gave him an ultimatum of fulfil it by January 18.

TMDP leader Hridayesh Tripathi told this daily that they also informed the PM that they would be compelled to launch peaceful agitation if their demands were not addressed by the deadline. The party has been demanding that 42 people killed during the Tarai

agitation be declared martyrs, the country be declared a federal, democratic and competitive republic with a provision of a single autonomy to Tarai-Madhes and proportional representation of all the communities in all state structures, including the Nepal Army.

He said the CA polls should be held on “justifiable proportional representation”.

The TMDP leaders also demanded scrapping of a legal provision that requires any party to field a minimum of 20 per cent candidates for both first-past-the-post and proportional system of elections and increase it to 50 per cent so as to encourage the regional parties.

According to the existing election law, a party contesting up to 20 per cent of the total seats of the constituent assembly does not require fielding candidates in proportion to the population distribution of Janajatis, woman, Dalit and marginalised communities. Tripathi said the PM was positive on addressing their concerns. “I also want to empower the Madhesi people,” Tripathi quoted the PM as saying.

Tripathi added that the 23-point agreement reached among the seven parties was just a formula of power-sharing among the three major parties and that it did not address their concerns.