Constituent Assembly (CA) on Monday endorsed a Proposal Drafting Committee (PDC) through a voice vote, exerting more pressure on the opposition parties to negotiate on the disputed issues of the new constitution.

The PDC has been given a mandate to draft a questionnaire on the disputed issues of the new constitution by reviewing the proposal submitted by the CA's Constitutional Political Dialogue and Consensus Committee (CPDCC).

CA Chair Nembang proposed the PDC himself and had it endorsed by the CA meeting amidst continuous sloganeering from the opposition lawmakers. Nembang had to take this step after the opposition lawmakers constantly barred the NC's chief whip Chin Kaji Shrestha from proposing a questionnaire committee.

The CA endorses the PDC at a time when the opposition UCPN (Maoist) leaders are asking for a few days time to forge a consensus on the disputed issues. In a meeting with President Ram Baran Yadav on Sunday, the UCPN (Maoist) Chair Pushpa Kamal Dahal and Vice Chair Baburam Bhattarai had sought five days time for a consensus.

Although CA Chair Nembang had the PDC endorsed by the CA meeting despite objection from the opposition lawmakers, he has given some time for the ruling and opposition parties for negotiations. The PDC will hold its first meeting five days later and will have to finish its job five days from that date.

This means that top leaders of the ruling and opposition parties will have at least 10 days for negotiations amidst the process of forming a questionnaire on the disputed issues. Ruling party insiders say even their top leaders are not ready to pass the new constitution through a vote and formation of the PDC is just a tactic to create pressure on the opposition to be more flexible on the disputed issues.

The ruling and opposition parties have differences over number and names of new federal units, form of governance, model of judiciary and electoral system. Last week, three days before the January 22 deadline expired, they were close to an agreement on all the issues but names and number of federal units. Later, they even backtracked from their understanding on three other disputed issues.

For the time being, the 73-member PDC only has 49 members. Names of the remaining 24 members will be announced later. "I had asked all the parties to give me names of the committee members from their respective parties," said Nembang. "But, some parties are yet to give me their names."

 

Names of the committee members:

  1. Agni Prasad Kharel

  2. Abdul Razzaq

  3. Usha Gurung

  4. Kripa Sur Sherpa

  5. Karna Bahadur Thapa

  6. Kiran Gurung

  7. Gagan Thapa

  8. Dhan Raj Gurung

  9. Gangadhar Tuladhar

  10. Narahari Acharya

  11. Purna Bahadur Khadka

  12. Padma Narayan Chaudhary

  13. Prakash Sharan Mahat

  14. Prakash Jwala

  15. Bhim Bahadur Rawal

  16. Mahesh Acharya

  17. Bhanu Bhakta Dhakal

  18. Bhisma Raj Angdembe

  19. Maha Laxmi Upadhyaya 'Dina'

  20. Minendra Rijal

  21. Min Bahadur Bishwokarma

  22. Rabindra Adhikari

  23. Radheshyam Adhikari

  24. Rameshwor Phuyal

  25. Rajendra Pandey

  26. Ram Krishna Yadav

  27. Romi Gauchan Thakali

  28. Lalbabu Yadav

  29. Sher Dhan Rai

  30. Shree Maya Thakali

  31. Kunti Kumari Shahi

  32. C.P. Mainali

  33. Chitra Bahadur K.C.

  34. Prem Suwal

  35. Jaya Dev Joshi

  36. Bishwendra Pashwan

  37. Attahar Kamal Musalman

  38. Eknath Dhakal

  39. Chadreshwar Jha

  40. Rajan Bhattarai

  41. Kumar Khadka

  42. Sher Bahadur Tamang

  43. Ramesh Lekhak

  44. Kiran Yadav

  45. Kul Bahadur Gurung

  46. Krishna Bhakta Pokhrel

  47. Deepak Bohara

  48. Ram Kumar Subba

  49. Dil Nath Giri