Nepal unveils committee to initiate voting process on disputed issues of new constitution

Amid obstruction and protests by opposition parties, Nepal's Constituent Assembly (CA) Chairman Subas Chandra Nembang on Sunday announced a committee to initiate the voting process on contentious issues of the new constitution.

After the opposition blocked the ruling parties from tabling a bill on the formation of the Questionnaire Committee, the speaker himself presented proposal and endorsed it with support from the ruling party lawmakers.

Opposition leaders said the unilateral move of ruling parties has breached the spirit of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement, Interim Constitution and other past agreements. They also raised concerns about the integrity and prestige of the parliament speaker.

"The CA chairman acted as a spokesperson of ruling party CPN- UML which is objectionable," United Communist Party of Nepal ( Maoist) Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal told reporters after the CA meeting.

On Sunday night, activists from the opposition parties led by the UCPN (Maoist) burnt the effigy of Nembang in various parts of the country.

Thousands of infuriated cadres of the UCPN (Maoist)-led 30- party alliance chanted slogans against Nembang and the ruling Nepali Congress and CPN-UML parties.

"It is unacceptable to us the unilateral decision taken by the ruling parties to form a parliamentary committee to go for voting instead of making efforts to forge consensus with opposition parties," Suman Poudel, a local leader of the UCPN (Maoist) from Western Nepal-based Tanahu District, said.

The tasks of the committee are to prepare questionnaire on disputed issues, such as federalism, form of government, and judiciary and electoral system, and table a proposal at the parliament to initiate a voting process.

The opposition front has already announced that it would not participate in any majority process of constitution drafting. They reiterated that the statute should be drafted on the basis of consensus rather than numerical strength. The Maoist has said that it will boycott the committee meeting.

Ruling party leaders said that they will reopen the talks with the opposition, reiterating that consensus effort will be continued within the process on contentious issues.

"Still there is enough room for forging consensus within next five days so that the opposition parties can come on board the current constitution, making progress by joining hands with the ruling parties," CA Chairman Nembang told the lawmakers.

Nepal failed to draft a new constitution by Jan. 22, the deadline set by parties.