Kathmandu, June 1 

Janata Samajwadi Party-Nepal today registered a private constitution amendment bill at the Parliament Secretariat seeking to change several provisions of the constitution to address the demands of Madhesis, Janajatis and other marginalised groups and communities.

The JSP-N said the constitution should be amended also to address the demands of Madhesis, Janajatis and other marginalised groups and not only the coat of arms to depict Limpiyadhura, Lipuelekh and Kalapani as the country’s territories.

Leaders associated with the JSP-N registered the bill on behalf of Rastriya Janata Party-Nepal and Samajwadi Party-Nepal as the merger of the two parties is yet to be completed.

The JSP-N’s move came a day after Minister of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs Shiva Maya Tumbahangphe presented the government’s constitution amendment bill (second amendment) in the House of Representatives.

JSP-N leader Laxman Lal Karna said they had registered the constitution amendment bill seeking to give citizenship to foreign women married to Nepali men upon initiating the process of renouncing their citizenship.

The bill also seeks to alter the boundary of a province in consultation with the province concerned and to form a commission for changing boundaries of provinces.

JSP-N leaders have been saying that the boundaries of the provinces should be changed to recognise identity the dominant ethnic groups of the provinces. The bill also seeks to incorporate languages to be recommended by the Language Commission into the schedule of the constitution.

All these four issues were part of the constitution amendment bill that was registered during Sher Bahadur Deuba’s premiership. The bill, however, failed in the House due to former CPN-UML’s opposition.

Karna said the new bill sought to amend the constitution also to have a constitutional court and a powerful Lokpal.

When asked if the JSP-N would vote in favour of the government’s constitution amendment bill if the government did not support their party’s constitution amendment bill, Karna said that in such a situation, the parliamentary party would take the final call.