Kathmandu, November 28

Federal Inclusive Madhesi Alliance today demanded formation of two provinces in Madhes one stretching from Narayani River up to Jhapa district   and another from Narayani River up to Kanchanpur district.

The alliance, however, said the main goal of the Madhes movement was to ensure formation of a single Madhes province.

In a letter addressed to the Prime Minister, the Nepali Congress, the Unified CPN-Maoist and the United Democratic Madhesi Front, the four party alliance put forth a nine-point demand.

FIMA has demanded that the   first-past-the-post constituencies be allocated to provinces in proportion to their populations. The new constitution proposes electing 165 lawmakers under the FPTP system.

Chair of Tarai Madhes National Campaign Jay Prakash Prasad Gupta said their demands were to basically have election constituencies delineated on the basis of population.

The alliance also demanded that the provinces should have the power to elect at least one lawmaker to the upper house and other representatives on the basis of the population of those provinces.

Similarly, the alliance also demanded allocation of 110 proportional seats in proportion to the population of the provinces. It also demanded fresh delineation of electoral districts every 10 years.

The alliance has also demanded reservation of seats for women under the FPTP system in order to ensure them 33 per cent representation.

The alliance’s other demands include fully proportional inclusion in all organs of the state, equal rights in terms of opportunities for citizens acquiring citizenship through marital naturalisation, multilingual policy for the centre.

The alliance also said that the state should seek a negotiated settlement of the demands raised by the agitating Madhesi and Tharu forces.