A meeting of the CA on Tuesday unanimously endorsed an amendment bill to this effect. With the amendment, disputed issues that the Constitutional Committee (CC) fail to resolve will be presented in the CA to endorse them through majority vote. [break]
The amendment was necessary as the regulation it did not mention anything about the issues that failed to get more than 50 percent votes in the CA meeting. The amendment now enable issues failing to get majority in the full meeting of the CA to be sent back to CC for further discussions among parties.
Earlier, Coordinator of CA Regulations Draft Committee Amrita Thapa Magar presented the amendment bill in the 121th CA meeting on Tuesday. The Draft Committee, formed on January 6, had presented its report in the CA meeting Tuesday as the parties could not arrive at a consensus on a provision related to the suspension of lawmaker convicted of criminal charge.
All the parties in the CA had agreed to adopt the amendment by keeping aside the provision to suspend lawmakers convicted of criminal charges. The Maoists had been strongly opposing the provision saying it would require them to suspend Maoist lawmaker Bal Krishna Dhungel, who has been convicted by a court in the murder of Ujjan Kumar Shrestha of Okhaldhunga in 1998.
The partie are likely to start voting on the contentious issues in the next CA meeting on Thursday. Despite a series of negotiations major parties continue to have differences on 117 issues including the key issues such as system of governance and federalism. There was also an understanding among parties to endorse the disputed issues through voice vote in the CA meeting.
Parties to continue negotiations
Even as they agreed to bring an amendment, major political parties say they will continue to hold negotiations as settling contentious issues through voting would not help promulgate new constitution. Two-third majority in the 601 member CA is required to promulgate a new constitution.
Top leaders of the UCPN (Maoist), Nepali Congress and CPN-UML reached the understanding during a meeting of the Dispute Resolution Sub-Committee under the Constitutional Committee. They agreed to continue talking even as the voting gets underway in the CA.
Talking to the media, Maoist Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal said though they agreed to vote to resolve contentious issues, there was no need to panic over the fate the new constitution.
UML Chairman Jhala Nath Khanal and NC parliamentary party leader Ram Chandra Paudel said parties would continue their negotiations till the end to resolve the disputed issues. "We will leave no stone unturned as there is no alternative to consensus on the disputed issues of new constitution," he said.
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