A task force under the Constitution Drafting Committee of the Constituent Assembly (CA) has prepared the first draft of Nepal’s new constitution. The task force, led by the committee’s president and Nepali Congress (NC) leader Krishna Prasad Sitaula, had started its work on 18 June following a 16-point constitution deal struck by four major political parties.
The draft of Nepal’s new constitution, finalised on Wednesday night despite a Supreme Court order against the 16-point deal, contains 35 parts and 312 articles. The number of parts in the new constitution is unlikely to change but there might be more articles when issues of pluralism, right to self-determination and local government bodies are sorted out.
Most parts and articles of the new constitution look like they were cut and pasted from the Interim Constitution-2007. But the new constitution has some parts and articles about federalism. For example, part-8 has articles about federal provincial councils and part-12 has articles about power of executive chiefs of federal units, their appointments and formation of provincial councils. Similarly, part-14 contains articles about relations between federal provinces and part-15 dwells on economic systems of these provinces.
Sitaula has already briefed top political leaders about the first draft. And when they sort out minor disputes like pluralism and local government bodies, it will be presented in the CA for approval.
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