KATHMANDU: The Constituent Assembly passed the joint amendment proposal on the Article 56 of Revised Bill of new constitution and subsequently endorsed the amended article, which envisages three levels of structure -- federal, provincial and local -- of Federal Republic of Nepal and distribution of the state power in these levels.

Meanwhile, the Article 289 of Part 35 for Transitional Arrangement, which envisages a federal commission to fix boundaries of seven purported federal units as stated in Schedule 4, is yet to put on vote.

According to the article, the commission would be formed within six months of the promulgation of new charter with its mandate for a year. In the wake of violent protests, the major parties -- Nepali Congress, CPN-UML and UCPN-Maoist-- decided to set up the commission to fix provincial boundaries.

The CA rejected as many as 29 other amendment proposals on Article 56 before putting the joint proposal of three major parties on vote. Altogether 31 amendment proposals were registered at the CA. However, a proposal was withdrawn yesterday before the voting process started, informing the CA chairman in writing.

Meanwhile, when his amendment proposal was rejected through voice vote, Rastriya Prajatantra Party-Nepal Chairman Kamal Thapa demanded a split vote.

As many as 25 lawmakers stood in support of Thapa's proposal to discard federalism.

Including Article 57, which provisions the distribution of the state power as per the Schedules 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9, the CA endorsed altogether 54 articles of the draft constitution today. Three articles were endorsed yesterday.

The CA meeting will resume at 10 am tomorrow.

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