Kathmandu, August 2

The Constituency Delimitation Commission today said that it could not fulfil demands, which were beyond its jurisdiction.

The CDC, which was formed to determine constituencies for provincial and the parliamentary elections, has been collecting suggestions from all seven provinces.

“We cannot fulfil majority of demands as they are beyond our jurisdiction,” CDC Chairperson Kamal Narayan Das told The Himalayan Times. He said the commission would analyse the suggestions collected from all the seven provinces and try to incorporate them while determining constituencies.

The five-member commission headed by Das was assigned to its submit report for provincial and the parliamentary elections within 21 days. The CDC has to create 165 constituencies from the existing 240. Likewise, the CDC has to create 330 constituencies for provincial elections.

According to Das, people from the Tarai-Madhes region complained about state restructuring. Political leaders from the Tarai-Madhes region demanded that constituencies be determined on the basis of population. “Some people demanded that the constitution be amended first, while others sought change in provincial boundaries,” Das said.

CDC Spokesperson Ganesh Raj Karki said the commission would collect suggestion until Friday. The CDC has been organising programmes in major cities of all seven provinces — Pokhara, Nepalgunj, Biratnagar, Janakpur, Birgung, Kathmandu, Butwal and others — to collect suggestions on constituency delimitation.

“We would include suggestions that are under our jurisdiction,” said Spokesperson Karki.

The Election Commission said CDC report was essential to hold provincial and parliamentary elections. The election body has also suggested to Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba to hold provincial and parliamentary elections separately before December.

As per the constitution, all three levels of elections — local, provincial and parliamentary — should be held before January 21 next year.