413 Nepal lawmakers submit petition demanding voting

More than two-third lawmakers of Nepal's Constituent Assembly today submitted a petition to the chairman of the 601-member unicameral body for a timely drafting of the new constitution through voting procedure.
The move comes at a time when less than a week is left to meet the stipulated deadline of January 22 for drafting the new constitution by the country's political parties.
The lawmakers have launched a signature campaign to press for timely drafting of the constitution and to promulgate the statute through majority voting as opposed to forging consensus demanded by the opposition parties' alliance led by UCPN-Maoist.
Altogether, 413 members belonging to parties like the Nepali Congress, CPN-UML, CPN-United and CPN-Marxist, submitted the petition to Subhas Chandra Nembang demanding to begin voting process to promulgate the constitution, Deputy Prime Minister Prakash Man Singh, who is also the general secretary of Nepali Congress, said today.

"We have not totally ruled out the possibility of talks with the opposition parties including the UCPN-Maoist and Joint Madhesi Front," he told PTI, adding that talks are still possible to resolve the matter.
The 19 party alliance, including UCPN-Maoist and Joint Madhesi Front, the grouping of six Madhesi parties, are launching agitation across the country since last week to show protest against the ruling alliances' plan to endorse the constitution through voting.

The ruling alliance has more than two third majority votes in the Constituent Assembly which is required for endorsing the constitution.
The signature campaign is regarded here as pressure tactics by the ruling parties alliance for promulgating the statute through majority votes.

Nepali Congress Lawmaker Chandra Maharjan said they have submitted 413 signatures to the chairman of the Constituent Assembly as it was almost impossible to promulgate the new constitution through consensus.
There are sharp differences between the opposition and ruling parties of Nepal on the four contentious issues of the Constitution, forms of governance, federal structures, judicial system and electoral system.