The parties resolved the most contentious issue—delineation—despite reservations from the UCPN (Maoist) and the Madhesi Janadhikar Forum-Loktantrik. The Nepali Congress, the CPN-UML, the UCPN (M) and the MJF-Loktantrik signed an agreement late on Saturday night with the Maoist and Madhesi parties registering their notes of dissent over some clauses of the agreement.

The MJF-L and the UCPN (Maoist) said that they had signed the deal in order to push the constitution drafting process forward. “Despite my reservations, I signed the deal to let constitution-drafting move forward,” MJF-L Chairman Bijaya Kumar Gachhadar said after the meeting of the Special Committee under the Political Dialogue and Consensus Committee (PDCC). The states have been designed in a way that all of them touch the international border with India while the four provinces have links with both India and China. The names of the provinces, however, will be decided by the respective provincial parliament.

Three districts—Baglung, Rukum and Nawalparasi—have been split in the federal set-up. Nawalparasi was spilt at Daunne to give Province 4 passage to India.

Besides, the parities unanimously agreed to allow a Nepali mother or father to pass on citizenship to their children. The preliminary draft of the constitution had the ‘and’ provision requiring both the mother and the father to be Nepalis for one to acquire the citizenship by descent. The parties have agreed to replace the ‘and’ provision by ‘or’, whereby a mother’s or a father’s proof of nationality will qualify a person to acquire the citizenship by descent.

The parties, however, are yet to reach consensus on several issues including religion, reappointment of the heads of constitutional bodies after constitution promulgation and Constitutional Court.

Among the six, Province 1 has 14 districts comprising all in the Mechi and Koshi zones, and Udaypur, Solukhumbu, Khotang and Okhaldhunga from the Sagarmatha zone. The three Tarai districts—Jhapa, Morang and Sunsari—have been put together with the Hill districts.

Province 2 will have eight Tarai districts—Parsa, Bara, Rautahat, Sarlahi, Mahottari, Dhanusha, Siraha and Saptari. It is the only province which does not have any districts from the hilly region.

Province 3 has 13 districts with the Capital Kathmandu. All the districts of the Bagmati zone, Makawanpur and Chitwan of Narayani Zone and Sindhuli, Dolakha and Ramechhap of Janakpur Zone constitute this province.

A chunk of Nawalparasi district, east of Daunne, will be in Province 4 along with all the districts of Gandaki and Dhaualagiri zones. However, a part of Baglung district from Dhaulagiri will not be included in the state. As per the deal, a part of western Nawalparasi and Baglung district and eastern part of Rukum, together with the districts from Rapti and Lumbini zones and Banke and Bardiya from Bheri zone will form Province 5.  

Province 6 has all the districts of the Seti, Mahakali and Karnali zones as well as Surkhet, Dailekh and Jajarkot of the Bheri zone and a section of Rukum district. The two most disputed districts from the far-western Tarai—Kailali and Kanchanpur—have been included in this province.

Prime Minister Sushil Koirala said that the deal ensures a new constitution and it was a matter of pride for all the people. PDCC Chairman Baburam Bhattarai said the agreement was a milestone towards constitution promulgation.

“There is still room for addressing the issues and demands raised by some parties,” he added.    

Gachhadar said that he signed the deal after the ruling parties, mainly Prime Minister Sushil Koirala, assured of addressing the issues raised by his party and other Madhes-based parties in future.  

The MJF-L had proposed three provinces in the Tarai. It proposed a separate state comprising Morang, Sunsari, Siraha and Saptari and splitting Kailali district to keep the Tharu residents within a Tarai province.

Similarly, the Maoists have reservations over including Kailali and Kanchanpur in Province 6. The party says that the districts with a Tharu majority should be included in Province 5. However the districts were kept intact following pressure from senior NC leader Sher Bahadur Deuba and UML Vice-chairman Bhim Rawal who firmly stood for an undivided Far West of the nine districts.

Jitendra Narayan Dev and Ram Janam Chaudhary, influential leaders of the MJF-L, voiced dissatisfaction at the deal, threatening not to support the decision. “This is the sole decision of Gachhadar. We are totally against this delineation,” Dev told the Post. “We will decide our future course on Sunday.”

The PDCC will endorse the report on Sunday and present it to the Constituent Assembly on the same day. After brief deliberation in the CA, the report will be forwarded to the Constitution Drafting Committee for preparing the final draft of the constitution. After the CDC comes up with the Constitution Bill, there will be voting in the Assembly on it.

Agreements

-    Or provision in citizenship

-    President and Vice President from different gender or community

-     Complete press freedom in the preamble

-     Federal Commission to sort technical issues of demarcation

-     51-member National Assembly

-     Army chief in National Security Council