Forgot your password?
Calendar of Operation for Crafting New Constitution
By KTM Metro Reporter in Kathmandu
On Sunday, November 16, 2008, the Constituent Assembly (CA) has formally initiated the crafting of a new constitution adopting a schedule for crafting a constitution.
Following the schedule, the CA will elect its Vice Chairperson on November 28, 2008; the CA will set up various subject matter committees by mid-December 2008 and their action plans by the end of December.
Committees on subject matters will collect public opinions on concept papers by February 26, 2009, and then the constitution drafting committee will prepare a preliminary draft of a constitution incorporating the public opinions by April 23, 2009. Then the CA will debate a preliminary draft constitution until May 14, 2009.
The committee on constitution drafting will submit its first draft to the CA on September 10, 2009. The draft constitution will be opened to the public debate until December 10, 2009.
The CA will discuss the draft constitution in view of the public opinions from January 7 to 10, 2010; will revise the draft constitution by January 22 and continue to debate the Constitution until April 28, 2010; and the CA will promulgate a new constitution on May 28, 2010.
In 1948, the then-Rana Prime Minister Padam Shumsher attempted to introduce a first constitution in Nepal but even the Rana political stakeholders refused to follow the constitution.
In 1951, the then-King Tribhuvan introduced an interim constitution; following it the king needed to hold an election for a CA to craft a people’s constitution but he never held any election.
In 1958, the then-King Mahendra issued a constitution, and held an election for a parliament following it. The then-Nepali congress party won overwhelming large number of seats in the parliament. Bisheswor Prasad Koirala became the first elected Prime Minster. However, Mahendra dismissed his government and put him and his colleagues behind bars and banned all political parties in Nepal.
In 1962, Mahendra issued another constitution introducing a no-party political system called Panchayat. It lasted until the people’s movement toppled it in1990.
In 1990, representatives of the NC, left front and the then king formulated a constitution with the provision for making the multi-party democracy and the monarchy unalterable. However, the then-King Gyanendra scrapped this constitution on February 01, 2005 and run the administration unilaterally until the people’s movement II toppled him in April 2006.
In 2007, the reinstated House of Representatives promulgated an Interim Constitution of 2007, and following the Interim Constitution set up an interim legislature, which in turn formed the Interim Government. The Interim Government held the election for a CA in April 2008. The elected CA declared Nepal a republic on May 28, 2008. The CA formed a new government in August 2008.
Thus, the elected CA is going to craft a new constitution of Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal hopefully a new constitution will be in place on May 28, 2010.
