Nepal Constituent Assembly extends its committee's tenure

The Constituent Assembly responsible for drafting Nepal's Constitution has extended its committee's tenure for second time to settle all the disputes with stakeholders and submit the report by October 17.
Constitutional Political Dialogue and Consensus Committee (CPDCC) led by senior Maoist leader Baburam Bhattarai is mandated to hold discourses with political parties and other stakeholders and include their views in its report.
As per the CA's new directives, the CPDCC should settle the remaining disputes by October 16, an extension of one week, and finalise its report by October 17, according to sources.
Forms of governance, state restructuring, judicial system and electoral system are the four contentious issues on which political parties are yet to agree before finalising the draft of the new Constitution.

The political parties, however, have not deferred the January 22 deadline of drafting the Constitution despite a change in the working schedule of Constitution drafting process.
Earlier, the CPDCC had failed to resolve disputed matters of new Constitution within the extended deadline which expired on October 7, after it failed to resolve it within the original deadline of September 6.

The committee had managed to settle around two and a half dozen thorny issues during the first extended period.
Meanwhile, constitutional expert Nilambar Acharya has warned that the political parties are unlikely to meet the January 22 deadline of drafting the Constitution.

The present working style of the political parties cannot accomplish the task of drafting the Constitution as per the stipulated deadline, he pointed out.