Leaders of Rastriya Janata Party Nepal (RJP) and Socialist Party Nepal have gone to the Federal Parliament Secretariat on Monday to register a separate Constitution amendment bill.
"They have brought the proposal. We are studying it," Chief of the legislation department Narayan Dhakal confirmed with Setopati. "It has yet to be registered."
The two parties have agreed to unify and form Socialist Samajwadi Party but the unification has yet to be formalized.
The Madhes-based parties have revived their demand of Constitution amendment to address their demands after the government registered the bill to amend the Constitution to implement the new map.
The parties are trying to register the Constitution amendment bill as a non-governmental bill.
Their amendment bill includes issues like language, naturalized citizenship, election of National Assembly members, and formation of a commission to change provincial demarcation.
Speaker of the House of Representatives (HoR) reserves the rights to decide whether to move the bill forward or not even if it is registered.
The main opposition Nepali Congress (NC) and the then Maoists were positive toward their demands but they couldn't be addressed in the past due in lack of support from the then CPN-UML.
The ruling CPN, formed after unification of UML and the Maoists, itself has almost two third majority in the House and the erstwhile UML is dominant in the party and is still hostile to those demands. The bill of Madhes-based parties, therefore, is highly unlikely to be passed even if the bill were registered and the speaker were to move it forward as Constitution amendment requires two-third majority.
RJP parliamentary party leader Mahantha Thakur had gone to register a similar amendment bill even on Friday but the Federal Parliament Secretariat refused to register it. Other RJP leaders had accompanied Thakur on Friday but leaders of Socialist Party were not present.
The government has registered the Constitution amendment bill to amend the schedule of the Constitution, wherein the map in the coat of arms does not include the territory including Limpiyadhura, to implement the new map.
Constitution amendment requires two-third majority of the House. The ruling CPN is just short of two-third majority but the main opposition Nepali Congress (NC) has already decided to support the amendment.
Madhes-based parties, Rastriya Janata Party Nepal (RJP) and Socialist Party Nepal, have been saying the government should also include their demands for Constitution amendment while amending it for implementation of the new map. They may vote against the government bill if their bill is rejected putting paid to Prime Minister (PM) KP Sharma Oli's wish to pass it on consensus but the government bill still will be passed comfortably with majority after support from NC.
The government on May 20 published the new map including Kalapani, Lipu Lekh and Limpiyadhura. The territorial area of Nepal has increased by 335 square kilometers with inclusion of the territory up to Limpyadhura.
The government on May 18 passed the new map including Kalapani, Lipu Lekh and Limpiyadhura.
Inauguration of the Indian road via Lipu Lekh on May 8 has been widely criticized by the ruling and opposition parties alike.
The Foreign Ministry has already expressed regret over the unilateral construction and urged India to refrain from carrying out any activity inside the territory of Nepal. It then summoned the Indian Ambassador to Nepal Vinay Mohan Kwatra and handed a diplomatic note conveying Nepal's position on the issue.
Nepal has consistently maintained that as per the Sugauli Treaty (1816), all the territories east of Kali (Mahakali) River, including Limpiyadhura, Kalapani and Lipu Lekh, belong to Nepal.
Nepal had also expressed its disagreement in 2015 through separate diplomatic notes addressed to the governments of both India and China when the two sides agreed to include Lipu Lekh Pass as a bilateral trade route without Nepal’s consent in the Joint Statement issued on 15 May 2015 during the official visit of the Prime Minister of India to China.