Parliament concludes deliberations on amendment proposal

KATHMANDU, Aug 21: The Legislature-Parliament concluded deliberations on second amendment bill on Constitution of Nepal-2073 BS. The bill was registered in the parliament on August 16.

A total of 54 lawmakers took part in the deliberations and each of them was granted three minutes to deliver the views regarding the proposal. A total of 50 amendment proposals have been registered over the bill which is scheduled to be presented before the meeting for a decision today itself.

Lawmakers from the ruling Nepali Congress and CPN (Maoist Center) gave their views in defense to the proposal while the main opposition and some other political parties termed the document to be against the people’s interests.

Federal Socialist Forum Nepal’s Upendra Yadav questioned the purpose of the amendment bill. He said though his party was in favour of the proposal, it was not enough to address the issues of Madhesi indigenous people.

CPN (UML)’s Tikaram Chemjong said the ruling parties introduced the amendment proposal before the parliament at a time when they were fully aware that it would not be endorsed.
Likewise, Sher Bahadur Tamang from the same party said the proposal was theoretically wrong while Harkabol Rai demanded its withdrawal.

Chitra Lekha Yadav of Nepali Congress, stating that the amendment was essential to ensure its acceptability, urged all lawmakers to vote for it.

Nepal Workers and Peasants’ Party’s Dilli Prasad Kafley argued the amendment proposal was likely to serve the interests of the political parties not the people.

Responding to lawmakers’ queries raised during the deliberations, Minister for Law, Justice and Federal Affairs Yagya Bahadur Thapa said the endorsement of the amendment proposal would help ensure greater acceptability of the country’s main law and contribute to the implementation of federalism. He took time to urge all political parties to vote for it. RSS