Constitution Drafting Committee Chairman Krishna Prasad Sitaula tabled the Constitution Bill at the Constituent Assembly on Sunday even as all the Madhes-based parties boycotted the CA meeting and the Rastriya Prajatantra Party-Nepal protested.

Deliberation on the final constitution draft will begin on Wednesday after CA members go through the draft on Monday and Tuesday.

The CDC had prepared the final version by modifying the preliminary draft on the basis of fresh agreements on some constitutional issues. The document proposes a seven-state structure, rather than the eight-province model proposed earlier, as per an agreement reached among three major parties on Friday.

There are changes in the provisions regarding citizenship, National Defence Council, Commission for Investigation of Abuse of Authority, President and Vice President, among others. Though the parties held several rounds of talks to change the provision on religion, secularism remains unchanged.

The constitution drafting process has reached a crucial and critical final stage. “We have arrived at the final stage of constitution promulgation. I urge all the parties to express their dissatisfaction inside the CA,” CDC Chairman Sitaula said while presenting the bill.

The number of parties in the CA objecting to the seven-state model is increasing. The Tarai Madhes Loktantrik Party, Sadbhawana Party, Sanghiya Samajbadi Forum and Nepal Sadbhawana Party have been boycotting CA meetings ever since the preliminary draft of the constitution was tabled. The RPP-Nepal has also been staging protests as long as the Tarai parties.

For the first time, the Madhesi Janadhikar Forum-Loktantrik boycotted the CA meeting on Sunday, expressing displeasure at the state delineation. The MJF-L was a signatory to the June 8 sixteen-point deal as well as the six-province model.

Speaking before walking out of the CA meet, MJF-L leader Jitendra Narayan Dev said the Nepali Congress, CPN-UML and UCPN (Maoist) had betrayed his party though “we are committed to promulgating a new constitution”.

Major parties have begun talks with Gachhadar but there has not been an agreement. The party demands eight provinces in order to address the Tharus’ demand for a Tharuhat province.

Dev said the seven-province deal had pushed the country “on the brink of a civil war”. Rastriya Madhes Samajbadi Party led by Sharat Singh Bhandari and the MJF-Ganatantrik led by Raj Kishore Yadav also boycotted the meeting supporting the MJF-L position.

Fringe parties Sanghiya Loktantrik Rastriya Manch (Tharuhat) and Tharuhat Tarai Party Nepal also did not sit through the session. The Sadbhawana Party, led by Rajendra Mahato, was absent from the CA as its five members tendered their resignation to Chairman Subas Nembang.

Besides, Janajati groups, women and Dalits have also voiced their dissatisfaction over numerous provisions in the Constitution Bill. There is dissatisfaction among some CA members over the splitting of Baglung and Rukum districts while carving out the provinces. As the number of disgruntled parties grows and street agitation intensifies, constitution promulgation has been a great challenge for three major parties.