Nepal Constituent Assembly meeting today

Kathmandu, July 2 : The Nepal Constituent Assembly (CA) meeting will take place today as a three-party panel formed to draft the supplementary Constitution amendment bill, as demanded by Terai-based parties.

Following an agreement with the Terai parties, the three main parties including the CPN (Maoist), the Nepali Congress and the CPN (UML) formed a three-member taskforce to prepare the draft of the amendment bill by incorporating the Terai parties' demands.

The three parties agreed to incorporate the demands for 'autonomous Madhesh province' and indirect a group entry of Madhesis into the Nepal Army.

They also agreed to prepare a common position and address the Madhes issue by tabling a supplementary bill for statute amendment in the Constituent Assembly.

In a meeting of top leaders of three main parties, the UML and the Maoists argued that they need to pay attention to the agreements made with other ethnic groups when they address the issues raised by the Madhesi parties.

"Addressing the Madhesi parties' demands is not a remedy to the present problems as we have to consider the agreements made with other groups too," said Maoist Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal.

He said the parties have arrived close to consensus to introduce a bill with the consensus of seven party alliance but some terminologies are yet to be agreed upon by the three parties.

UML General Secretary Jhala Nath Khanal said parties have sought a common stance on the concept of all provinces along with Madhes.

He said the concept of single province for Madhes is not scientific and it should not be decided by three Madhesi parties. "They have secured 1.1million votes while the Maoists, the Nepali Congress and the UML have bagged 3.3 million in Madhes. It shows the actual mandate of the people," he added

Khanal said the parties would table the issue for voting in the Constituent Assembly and pass it by two-third if efforts at making common positions fail, Kantipur reported.

ANI