• Till now no concrete homework has been done and consultation with other parties has been informal

Kathmandu, October 1

The constitution amendment bill is unlikely to be tabled in the Parliament before Dashain festival as no concrete preparations have been done so far on this.

Although Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal recently said that the bill might be registered in the Parliament before Dashain, no groundwork has been done yet.

Besides, all government offices will be closed from October 8 to 12 for Dashain.

It could take around one month to bring the bill after forging consensus among parties. Consultations among parties will begin only after Dashain festival, said sources close to PM Dahal.

The delay in constitution amendment could affect the government’s plan to hold local bodies’ elections by mid-April as the agitating Madhes-based parties have said they will not allow local polls before their agendas are addressed.

The government is yet to bring laws related to local elections.

CPN-Maoist Centre Spokesperson Pampha Bhusal said, “Prime Minister Dahal has been holding consultations with leaders of Madhes based parties. They have given a deadline for bringing the constitution bill by the Chhath festival. I hope the bill will come through consultations by Tihar, that is, October-end.”

CPN-MC leader Narayan Kaji Shrestha said that no concrete homework has been done till now, apart from holding general consultations. Thus the bill is unlikely before Dashain.

Spokesperson Bhusal believes the main opposition CPN-UML will agree to constitution amendment as it agreed to the idea of determining local bodies on the basis of the number of areas (Ilaka).

UML leader Surendra Pande said the ruling parties had not held any consultation with the main opposition so far.

“The government has not even moved forward election related bills and this may affect the government’s plan to hold elections. We are committed to our stance that constitution amendment will be possible only after its need is justified,” he said.

Deputy Prime Minister and Nepali Congress leader Bimalendra Nidhi said, “The government is now doing internal homework and holding informal talks. It is not still clear when the amendment bill will will come.”

Most likely, the constitution amendment bill will be brought after Tihar festival, said Minister for Infrastructure and Trasnportation Ramesh Lekhak.

Sadbhawana Party Chairman Rajendra Mahato said that PM Dahal had promised to bring the constitution amendment bill before Chhath festival, the first week of November. “If the bill is not brought by then, we will begin our movement immediately after Chhath,” Mahato said.

The ruling parties are now trying to resolve intra-party and inter-party disagreements in relation to the amendment as reported by PM Dahal, said Mahato.

“We have told the PM to bring a proposal for consensus before registering the amendment proposal in the Parliament,” Mahato said.

Constitution amendment is the demand, mainly raised by the agitating Madhes-based parties, which had agreed to vote for Dahal around two months ago during the election of prime minister after the NC and CPN-MC alliance agreed to address their demands through constitution amendment.

The four major demands of Madhes-based parties include ensuring two provinces in the Tarai-Madhes region, determining seats in the Upper House of Parliament on the basis of population, reducing the number of clusters under the provision of reservation for recruiting in government positions and reducing restrictions for those holding citizenship under the naturalised and by descent provisions.