Constitution amendment main agenda for Nepal's agitating parties

The agitating parties of Nepal, which underwent marathon protests in the Southern Plains of the country, are considering constitution amendment as the main agenda for the forthcoming elections.

In an interview with ANI, the general secretary of the Rastriya Janata Party- Nepal (RJP-N), Keshav Jha, acknowledged about the party's publicity, which is putting forward the agenda of amendment in the election campaign.

"As of now, our main issue for the upcoming elections is the constitution amendment. Previously, we had claimed that the constitution is incomplete, and an amendment is required to make it complete. And we went to protest for six months, which is the longest in the history. We have made an attempt to amend it for which we got 57 per cent votes in favour of it in the parliament," Jha said.

The amendment bill, opposed by the opposition, was turned down as it lacked the two-third majority after some of the parties who voted for Sher Bahadur Deuba to be the Prime Minister turned against it. Now the agitating party has again stated it as the main political demand and has vowed to continue it.

"Until and unless we don't get the rights, we cannot accept this constitution as complete and the country would never remain silent, which indeed will prompt protests and struggles," Jha added.

The party has also vowed to garner two-third majority in the upcoming polls to make the amendment possible. Though the talk over the formation of the democratic alliance with the Nepali Congress was on the table, the differences in the understanding of the division of seats resulted in the failure.

The agitating parties with six party flags came under one with the name Rastriya Janata Party and now, will be contesting the Parliamentary and the Provincial Council elections, slated for November 26 and December 7.

Previously, the party had denounced the local elections putting forward the amendment bill as the condition for the participation and the bill was tabled by the current government, which failed due to lack of majority.