Pokhara, July 29

Constituency Delimitation Commission collected suggestions from politicians, social workers, intellectuals and civic society representatives in Pokhara today.

Most of the civil society representatives said 51 per cent population and 49 per cent geography should be taken as criteria for constituency delimitation. Stating that both population and geography were vital for the country, they asked the commission not to keep huge gap between the two bases.

The constitution states that the commission should consider population a primary base and geography as a secondary base for determining constituency. The statute has set the provision that no question shall be raised on the constituency determined by the commission in the court.

Nepali Congress Kaski President Krishna KC said constituency should be determined considering geographical specialties. “Geography too should be given equal importance,” KC said. CPN-UML Kaski Chairman Krishna Thapa said geography and population should be balanced while determining constituency. “Geography too should be given equal importance for the development of backward and remote parts of the country,” Thapa added.

Similarly, CPN-Maoist Centre Kaski leader Ganga Pokhrel advised to take both population and geography into consideration while determining constituency.

Commission member Prof Biswokalyan Parajuli said the commission was working rigorously to submit the report to the government on time. “The work to determine the constituency is in line with the directive to distribute 165 seats of the federal parliament to the provinces and to have one seat at least in every district.

Parajuli said a study on population analysis and geographic state was under way. He further added the commission had taken the suggestions from experts from all fields, and Local Level Restructuring Commission’s member, among others.

The government has set 21-day-deadline to submit the report to the government. The commission started its work from

July 26.