Nepal: Parties pledge to deliver new constitution within 1 year

Nepal's constitution drafting body, the Constituent Assembly, is preparing to adopt a fast-track model to promulgate a new constitution for the country within the next 11 months.

A fast-track model means the number of committees in the Constituent Assembly will be decreased and tasks of the previous assembly will be accepted by the new one, reported Xinhua.

Many procedural hassles will also be removed from the assembly rules of procedure this time.

Parties have pledged to deliver a new constitution within a year and one month has already elapsed since the first meeting of the assembly Jan 22.

Subhash Nembang, chairman of the Constituent Assembly, said the countdown for the deadline for drafting a new constitution has already begun and urged the political parties to focus on constitution-related tasks.

A cross-party committee of the assembly entrusted to prepare new rules has proposed formation of only five committees for the purpose of writing a new constitution.

"A cross-party committee inside the Constituent Assembly will prepare a report about the agreed and contentious issues related to a new constitution and present it to the Constituent Assembly," said Laxman Lal Karna, a lawmaker involved in preparing the rules of procedure.

The rules of procedure aim to prepare a first draft of the new constitution within the next six months and finalise it within the next 11 months.