The EC made the suggestion to the Political Dialogue and Consensus Committee of Constituent Assembly on Sunday regarding the provision. Earlier in the month, it had submitted a written proposal on the matter to the CA committee.  The CA currently has 30 parties from the 127 that had contested the election in November last year. The provision of threshold attracted opposition from the UCPN (Maoist), Madhesi and fringe parties even at the time of the election.

On the electoral system, the EC has floated two ideas—improving the existing mixed system or going for a mixed member proportional (MMPR) system. The commission's suggestion comes at a time when the parties are at odds over the electoral system. The Nepali Congress has stood for 175 constituents for first-past-the-post elections to form the lower house but 75 of the candidates come from proportional and inclusive quotas.

Both the Maoists and Madhesi parties have suggested the MMPR as a middle-point on the electoral system. In fact, Maoist Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal at a recent interaction with the press had suggested that the MMPR could be a way out for the electoral system.

Under the MMPR system, which is a mix of both first-past-the-post and PR, ballots are set into one. “The major parties had some issues with the technical aspect of the MMPR, one of the options we had suggested,” said Chief Election Commissioner Neel Kantha Uprety. He said that the EC had urged parties to go for a 40:60 ratio for the PR and direct elections to improve on the existing mixed model.

“If we have 40 percent under the PR then there were will be at least 20 percent women candidate,” he added. The EC, according to Uprety, is against reserved constituencies as some sections have proposed.