The Constituent Assembly (CA) on Wednesday directed the Constitution Drafting Committee (CDC) to amend the draft constitution and present it as a final bill before the House within five days.

The CA directed the committee to modify the draft on the basis of Saturday’s cross-party agreement, which was tabled as a report at full House by the Political Dialogue and Consensus Committee (PDCC) for endorsement.  

On Saturday, parties had agreed to adopt six-province model with delineation. They also made changes to provisions on citizenship, formation of the Security Council, among others, following suggestions provided by people on the draft constitution.

The drafting committee will have to change the draft based on the PDCC report and other pending issues of the constitution. After tabling the bill in the CA, CDC members will start registering amendment bills on particular sections and articles of the constitution. However, it is unclear as to how the parties will address the demands for undivided Mid West, undivided Karnali and issues raised by Tharu CA members.

Addressing concerns raised by the CA members, PDCC Chairman Baburam Bhattarai said there cannot be fundamental changes in the six-province model but hinted at incorporating some of people’s suggestions. He said political leaders, primarily CA members, should convince people that the proposed model is the correct one. “As leaders, we should convince people without confining ourselves to certain constituencies,” he said.

On Tuesday, signatories to the six-province deal—Prime Minister Sushil Koirala, CPN-UML Chairman KP Oli, UCPN (Maoist) chief Pushpa Kamal Dahal and Chairman of Madhesi Janadhikar Forum-Loktantrik (MJF-L) Bijaya Kumar Gachhadar—had jointly appealed to people to maintain restraint and withdraw their protests. But protests continued unabated, with the disgruntled forces pressing for demands such as undivided mid-western region, autonomous Karnali region and Tharuhat state.   

In a bid to weaken protests, all major parties except for the MJF-L are understood to have asked their leaders and cadres not to engage in the protest programmes.

According to a senior leader, the parties could entrust a commission to settle all the disputed issues. In the 16-point agreement, the parties have

envisioned a commission to settle delineation of federal provinces. Having come up with a proposal on the most contentious issue of delineation, the parties have agreed to form a commission to settle technical and other issues on the topic.

Along with demands to change delineation, the parties are faced with a challenge to settle some other issues, including provisions on religion, Constitutional Court.

If everything pans out well, the parties can promulgate the constitution by August end, according to leaders.

If the constitution is not promulgated by that time, there are fears that it could be further delayed because of the upcoming General Convention of the Nepali Congress.

They say this would largely depend on the volume of protests in some parts of the country and growing intra-party rift. The PDCC report faced opposition from cross-party CA members during discussions in the CA on Tuesday and Wednesday.

However, except for the Rastriya Prajatantra Party-Nepal, Madhes-based parties and Nepal Majdoor Kisan Party, CA members of the major parties supported the PDCC report. A Special Committee formed under the PDCC will continue its meetings to thrash out the remaining contentious issues of the constitution. CA Chairman Subas Nembang said he was hopeful the special committee will resolve the disputes.

The constitution drafting process is moving forward after the four parties signed the 16-point deal mainly on federalism, form of government, citizenship and electoral system. On the basis of agreement CDC prepared preliminary draft of constitution.