CA extended three more months

KATHMANDU, Aug 30: A resounding majority at parliament Monday endorsed the proposal to extend the Constituent Assembly (CA) term for a third time, for three months.

Of the total 541 lawmakers present at the meeting, 537 voted in favor of the CA term extension and only four lawmakers from Rastriya Prajatantra Party-Nepal (RPP-N) stood against the proposal.


A bill to amend the Interim Constitution was endorsed by the parliament meeting as the CA tenure is set out in the statute. Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister Bijay Gachchhadar tabled the bill to amend the constitution and urged political parties to vote in favor, saying, "It has become essential to extend the term to conclude the remaining tasks of constitution writing." Nepali Congress (NC) Chief Whip Laxman Ghimire and CPN-UML Chief Whip Bhim Acharya seconded the proposal.

An understanding reached at a meeting among top leaders of three major political parties -- UCPN (Maoist), NC and CPN-UML -- held at the president´s office at Shital Niwas in the presence of Speaker Subas Nembang paved the way for the extension of the CA term, which was to expire on Wednesday.

UCPN (Maoist) Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal, NC President Sushil Koirala, CPN-UML Chairman and outgoing Prime Minister Jhalanath Khanal and NC Parliamentary Party leader Ram Chandra Paudel, among other top leaders, were present at the meeting. The leaders, who reached there to attend the swearing-in ceremony for the new prime minister, held a meeting on the sidelines immediately after the ceremony.

"The leaders were persuaded after Speaker Nembang said there was no point causing any further delay and they became ready to accomplish the task today [Monday] itself," said a leader present at the meeting.



In the past, the CA term extension bills were tabled at midnight and endorsed in the wee hours due to bickering over power-sharing as well as term extension. On Monday, however, even lawmakers were taken by surprise as the leaders had, all of a sudden, agreed to table and endorse the bill. The lawmakers were informed about the new development only in the afternoon. The parliament meeting that commenced at 5:30 p.m. held three sittings and endorsed the bill by completing all the procedures by 8:45 p.m.

The last time, on May 28, the leaders bickered the whole day and tabled the bill at 11:45 p.m., resumed their talks and agreed to endorse it only early in the morning next day.

This is the first time the CA term has been extended without inking any deal. Earlier, the opposition parties had forced both then erstwhile prime ministers Madhav Kumar Nepal in 2010 and Jhalanath Khanal in 2011 to sign separate deals before extending the CA. Both prime ministers had to agree to step down to pave the way for forming a consensus government, and they stepped down later.