KATHMANDU: As the deadline for writing the new constitution inches closer, constitutional experts today warned the Constituent Assembly members against extending its tenure and said that election would be the only valid alternative to justify its failure of writing the Constitution.

"CA tenure cannot be extended beyond the May 28 deadline and holding election would be the only legitimate alternative," Daman Nath Dhungana, Constitutional expert and former speaker said. He reasoned that the CA members would lose their mandate on May 28.

According to him, the new CA which would come into being would complete the task of the present CA to write the Constitution. "This is the only logical and legitimate way to cover-up the failure of the CA," Dhungana argued. He also warned that if the Constitution could not be promulgated on the specified time and when the political parties could not give legitimate alternative, the country would face serious political and constitutional stalemate.

"The system would be like a debris from the place crash and nothing would be able to rescue us," he said, speaking at an interaction on 'future of the democracy and constitution making', organised by the Civil Campaign for Democracy, here today.

Dhungana further opined that an authoritarian regime would come into power should there be no valid alternative. Stating that the political parties are not honest in writing the constitution and were always after the power, the danger was lurking, he said.

Advocate Sushil Kumar Upadhyay urged the civil society members to put constant pressure on the CA members to complete the task of writing the constitution. Civil Society leader Sobhakhar Parajuli and advocate Baburam Giri criticised the state organs of being weak to tackle 'new threat'. They didn't elaborate what was the new threat.

Stating that CA was moving at snail's pace, civil society leader Charan Prasai said a time is ripe for people to think of an alternative. Constitutional expert Dr Bhimarjun Acharya, however, objected the idea of letting the political parties to think over the extension of the CA term or to hold election of the next House. "This will not only breach the contract but also violate the political morality," he argued.

Constitutional Committee Chairman Nilambar Acharya ruled out exerting pressure on the CA to promulgate the constitution within May 28 arguing that there were a number of issues which needed to be resolved to avoid making a defective constitution like the one at present.