Kathmandu, July 11
Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba wants to keep existing 240 constituencies intact for the purpose of upcoming federal parliamentary elections, says a source privy to recent political developments.
During a meeting held among three major political parties in Baluwatar today, the Nepali Congress President asked if keeping the current constituencies intact would be possible, informs the source.
He had argued that it would be easy to convince agitating Madheshi parties with the provision as the parties could protest the delineation into 165 constituencies if done otherwise claiming it would not be proportionate to population.
The new constitution, however, says there will be 165 constituencies for first-past-the-post electoral system for the House of Representatives.
The source also claimed that the main opposition, CPN-UML, also said implementing Deuba’s proposal could be possible, but put a condition that the share of proportional representation seats should be downsized.
According to the new constitution, there will be total 275 members in the House of Representatives including 110 from the proportional representation category.
The CPN-Maoist Centre, however, said neither keeping 240 constituencies intact nor downsizing proportional representation would be constitutionally possible.
The discussions have begun after the Election Commission demanded that the government form a Constituency Delineation Commission and prepare a report at the earliest.
