How easy is constitutional amendment?

After the political stability due to the power game, the first and second major parties have said that they are going to make arrangements to get a majority by removing or reducing the proportional election system, although they have not revealed which articles of the constitution they will amend. The Congress-UML claims to form a commission for the amendment of the constitution and based on its suggestions, reform the electoral system and guarantee political stability through the amendment of the constitution.

A two-thirds vote in parliament is required for constitutional amendment. According to the provisions of the Constitution of Nepal, a two-thirds majority in the House of Representatives and the National Assembly is mandatory to amend the Constitution. According to which, at least 184 MPs are required out of 275 in the House of Representatives. Congress and UML add up to 167.

UML MP Top Bahadur Rayamazhi suspended and Speaker Devraj Ghimire can vote only in the event of a tie, so these two parties will have to gather 18 more MPs for two-thirds. There is a preparation for an alliance involving RPRPA (14), Janmat (6), Janata Samajwadi (5) and other parties. However, the arithmetic of the National Assembly is not so favorable for them.

At least 40 votes are required in the 59-member National Assembly. In the National Assembly, Maoists alone have 17 MPs while Congress has 16 MPs and UML has 10 MPs. For two-thirds, the two main parties need the support of 14 more MPs. In the National Assembly, there are 8 MPs from the United Samajwadi Party, 3 from JSP Nepal, 1 from LOSPA, 1 from Jan Morcha and 3 nominated MPs. Congress and UML need the support of United Samajwadi Party, JSP Nepal, LOSPA, Jan Morcha Samajwadi and JSP nominees to reach two-thirds in the National Assembly.

In Article 274 of the constitution, it is mentioned that this constitution cannot be amended in a way that is adverse to Nepal's sovereignty, geographical integrity, independence and the sovereignty vested in the people, but it can be amended by carrying out procedures on other matters. "Subject to other articles of this constitution, a bill to amend or repeal any article of this constitution may be submitted to any house of the federal parliament." The constitution states, "The submitted bill shall be publicly published for the information of the general public within 30 days of its presentation in the relevant house." A bill that does not require the consent of the Provincial Assembly or has been approved by a majority of the Provincial Assembly must be passed by a majority of at least two-thirds of the total number of members in both houses of the Federal Parliament.'

If the bill introduced in the parliament is related to the change of the borders of a province or the matter mentioned in Schedule-6, the speaker or the chairman of the relevant house must send it to the provincial assembly for approval within 30 days after such bill is introduced in the federal parliament and the bill must be passed by a majority of all the members of the relevant provincial assembly within 3 months. There is a provision to send the information to the Federal Parliament after approval or rejection. However, in order not to amend the province's boundaries or the list of rights of the province in Schedule 6 of the Constitution, it must be passed by two-thirds of the House of Representatives and the National Assembly.

Law Minister Padam Giri argues that the main concern of revising the constitution along with power sharing is political stability. "Basically, political stability has been hindered due to the electoral system," he said, "therefore, it is the conclusion of major major parties to reform the electoral system and end the instability." He claimed that constitutional amendment will strengthen the federal system. 110 MPs, i.e. 40 percent, are elected from a proportional list based on the total number of votes received by the political parties in the House of Representatives, where the government is formed. There is a provision to elect MPs proportionally from the proportional list from clusters including women, tribals, Madhesi, Dalits.

The Maoists have claimed that the agreement reached between the Congress and the UML on the issue of constitutional amendment will lead to regression. The meeting of Maoist officials has concluded that the issue of constitutional amendment is serious, even if the power equation is changed. Maoist Deputy General Secretary and Finance Minister Barshman Pun said that amending the constitution is a regression. Amending the constitution means retreating from the current situation. There is a tendency to amend the constitution and bring a king. Within the Congress-UML, it is a regression to cancel the federalism, inclusive, proportional election system," he said. No one will admit to ignoring the political achievements and sacrifices made so far. If an attempt is made to do so, the people will retaliate.

Chief whip of the Congress Parliamentary Party, Ramesh Akhtar, said that after reviewing the strong and weak aspects of the constitution, the proposal to amend the constitution was put forward. He talked theoretically about constitutional amendment. Which has been practiced since the commencement of the Constitution. It means to review its strengths and weaknesses or its complexity and to amend the constitution according to the need, he said, that is to create laws accordingly. The strengths and complexities of the constitution should be distinguished. KP Oliji is trying to include all the parties for this.'

Santosh Pariyar, chief whip of RSVP, said that he does not agree with the decision to curtail the rights of citizens and narrow it to a proportional system. It is not that constitutionalism should not be done in a timely manner while amending the constitution, but on what philosophy is it based on? Should the people be empowered or narrowed down?', he said, 'Political rights should be broadened for the people through the constitution. Removing the proportional system is a regressive way of thinking, we do not agree with that.' RPP Chairman Rajendra Lingden has said that the issue of constitutional amendment is welcome. This constitution did not work. Not without radically changing it. For this, a new agreement should be made between all the political parties," he said. "Now the news has come that Congress and UML have reached a new agreement. We have considered the matter of forming a government together with the first and second parties to amend the constitution to be welcome.'

Experts in constitutional affairs are of the opinion that the amendment of the constitution has the risk of destabilizing the entire political system. Constitutional scholar Bipin Adhikari says that although amending the constitution is not wrong in itself, this action also risks destabilizing the political system. Some parties are dissatisfied with the construction of the constitution. "Strengthening the constitution by including those dissatisfactions and missing issues should not be taken otherwise," he said. If the effect of the amendment of the constitution falls on the political system, there is a risk of instability.

If the amendment of the constitution is done with thought, it will be more refined, but sometimes it may also become complicated, he says. Many parties may be interested in amending the constitution. It should be managed properly," he said.