The main opposition CPN-UML has said it is all set to counter the constitution amendment bill from the streets, Parliament and court.

According to party leaders, the UML will disrupt the House to protest the government move of registering the bill despite the party’s objection. The party has already said it will take to the streets against government plan to split Province 5. 

The bill registered on Tuesday envisions splitting Province 5 and take some districts out of it to merge them with Province 4, which will have 17 districts. UML leaders said the party was also mulling over taking legal course, as the amendment bill, particularly the plan to split Province 5, is against the constitution as it violates Article 274. 

Article 274 (4) states: If a bill is related with the alteration in the borders of any state… the Speaker or the chairperson of the concerned House must send that bill to the state assembly for its consent. The state assemblies are yet to come into existence.

“Our Deputy Parliamentary Party leader Subas Nembang is in talks with legal experts to figure out whether we should take legal course to counter the government move,” said UML Whip Gokul Gharti.

“It is really suspicious. The government tabled the bill the same day the apex court issued a show cause notice,” Nembang said during UML’s Parliament Party meeting on Wednesday. 

Hours before the government registered the amendment bill, the Supreme Court  (SC) on Tuesday, while responding to a petition that questioned the constitutionality of the government plan to alter the provincial boundaries, issued a show cause notice. Responding to the petitioner’s stay order demand, the apex court has asked the government to clarify why such an order should not be issued. 

Madhes-based parties refuse to take ownership

POST REPORT

KATHMANDU, NOV 30

A day after the government registered the constitution amendment bill, the Madhes-based parties, at whose insistence the move was taken, on Wednesday refused to take ownership of it. 

Some senior Madhesi leaders, however, said the agitating parties “may vote” in favour of the bill with some reservations “to institutionalise the achievements”.

The agitating parties claim that the bill still falls short of addressing their key concerns, including delineation of federal boundaries, in entirety.

Madhesi leaders are particularly unhappy with the government for failing to mention the so-called five disputed districts in the bill. 

According to Madhesi leaders, Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal has assured that he would categorise Jhapa, Morang, Sunsari in the East and Kailali and Kanchanpur in the West as “disputed districts” and split them between Hill and plain provinces based on the recommendation made by the State Restructuring Commission.

The Sanghiya Gathabandhan, which has 29 regional parties under it, had earlier also said that it would not take ownership of the amendment bill. 

On Wednesday, the Samyukta Loktantrik Madhesi Morcha (SLMM), an alliance of seven Madhes-based parties, expressed its opinion in the similar vein. 

Issuing a statement on Wednesday evening, the Morcha said the bill “tabled without our consent cannot be accepted under existing circumstances”. 

“The constitution amendment bill tabled by the government on Tuesday doesn’t address the concerns of Madhesi, indigenous and excluded communities,” reads the statement issued by the Morcha.

Gathabandhan Coordinator Upendra Yadav, who is also the chairman of the Sanghiya Samajbadi Forum Nepal (SSF-N), a constituent of the Morcha, said in a press statement that the SSF-N will continue to protest against all forms of discrimination against indigenous, Janajati, Tharu, Khas, Muslim, Women, Dalit and Madhesi people.

“It’s too little too late,” Rastriya Madhes Samajbadi Party Chairman Sharat Singh Bhandari said of the amendment bill.