The Constituency Delimitation Commission (CDC) has finalised 495 election constituencies for provincial and federal polls. However, the work to draw up “a complete map” is yet to be completed, hence the final report, according to the commission, will be submitted to the government most likely on Tuesday. 

The government had formed the CDC on July 20 giving it 21 days to complete the task of carving out 165 electoral constituencies for the election of House of Representatives and 330 constituencies for the election of provincial assemblies. The government has called both the elections together for November 26.  “We are putting finishing touches to the report,” said Ganesh Raj Karki, a CDC member. 

The five-member CDC led by former Supreme Court justice Kamal Narayan Das has taken into consideration the constitutional provision of carving out 165 constituencies, downsizing the number from the existing 340, on the basis of geography and population. 

Article 286 (5) of the constitution says: While determining election constituencies, the CDC shall determine the constituencies, having regard to population and geography as the basis of representation, so as to ensure that the ratio between the geography, population and number of members of such electoral constituencies is equal, so far as practicable. Clause 6 of the same Article says: While delimiting constituencies, regard must be had to, inter alia, the density of population, geographical specificity, administrative and transportation convenience, community and cultural aspects of the constituencies.

The CDC, however, refused to divulge the details of weightage of geography and population while fixing electoral constituencies. 

According to sources, population has been taken as the major basis while determining the constituencies. In such case, districts located along the country’s southern plains and major cities are likely to have two or more than two constituencies compared to the districts in the Hill region. According to a source, three districts in the Kathmandu valley will continue to have 15 constituencies for the election of House of Representatives.

Balancing population and geography was the biggest challenge for the CDC to ensure proportional representation as some provinces cover a large geographical area but have a low population density. 

For instance, Province 6 (with 10 districts) has just 6 percent of the total population (1,623,602), while it covers around 20 percent (27,984 sq km) of the total geography while the scenario is just the opposite in Province 2 (with 8 districts) which covers around 6 percent (9,661 sq km) of the total geography but has 20 percent (5,404,145) of population.