The passage of time, on reflection, has been swift when thoughts are given to the duration that has elapsed since the historic Constituent Assembly election over ten months back. There was zeal with the polls being held, after being postponed twice because of the hesitation or rigid postures on certain issues by one party or the other. Yet, the exercise was inevitable to get the mandate of the people, the supreme source of power. Every party, in the run-up to garner the verdict of the voters in its favour, spread out its wares in the form of agendas, beliefs and promises in front of the people. The complacent lot suffered debacle while others made optimum use of the occasion to make their presence felt. The election results were but the initial part of the more important task of drafting the constitution that was not only to be democratic but also all inclusive to reflect the aspirations of the people in every nook and corner of the country.

The evident delay in forming the government, led by the single largest party that is the CPN-Maoist, was the beginning of the constitution writing schedule compromised. Now that the various committees of the CA are in place and the calendar confirmed, the process has been initiated in earnest to meet the deadline. To make a surefooted beginning, unlike the past constitutions that were framed sitting in the comfortable offices in Kathmandu, the modus operandi for the formulation of the new constitution is through the meaningful interaction of the teams of CA members with the people at their doorsteps. Every team is to consist of 24 CA members for easily accessible constituencies while it is 8 for remote areas. The choice of team members is almost final before the teams embark to designated constituencies to collect the suggestions that would make the whole exercise originate from the people, and for which purpose they had participated in the CA election last year. The little delay that has occurred in the suggestion-collecting work is all because of the CA members putting their own preferences of the places they want to visit, which is but a trivial matter.

Soon, the teams will fan out across the country for face-to-face contacts with the people so that genuine suggestions can be collected and be incorporated into the constitution to be drafted. The objective is to make the constitution fully representative. With this move, the MPs can be surely said to be doing the task that they had been entrusted by the people. Once the suggestions have been collected sincerely, the all important task of studying them will commence for their possible incorporation into the constitutional document. It is for this very reason that a timeframe of a year and a half is considered to be short. But, with consensus prevailing, without disruption of any kind like the act of trying to topple the government, it can be hoped that the constitution writing task will be completed within the schedule to the satisfaction of every section of the society. It is also a time for the CA members to set aside their petty grievances and wholeheartedly participate in bringing back from the districts the basic public ideas as to what the expected constitution should be like.