A decade after the promulgation of the Constitution, the debate on its implementation and amendment has taken a new turn. On the other hand, the political parties, who for a long time made the issue of constitutional amendment a ladder of power interests, after the Jen-G movement, now they are once again facing the challenge of limiting themselves to the game of power or becoming dynamic and practical in the interests of the people.

Congress, UML and Maoists have been raising the debate on constitutional amendment not only now, but for a long time. On 17 June 2008, the Congress-UML had brought forward the issue of constitutional amendment even when the power equation was started through the seven-point agreement.

Even that equation was formed in the foundation of the constitutional amendment. But despite agreeing to amend the constitution, they did not show interest in moving it forward. Only after the Maoists came out of power did they become vocal about the amendment issue. As the constitutional amendment agenda of the parties continues to move in an opportunistic and power-centered direction, the Gen-G movement has radically changed the dimension of the amendment. Standing on the foundation of the

movement, Jen-G is advancing the debate that the direct election of the executive prime minister should be held in the House of Representatives elections announced on February 21. Constitutionalist Chandrakant Gyawali says that there is no possibility of amending the constitution before the election and moving to a new government system due to the constitutional limitations and procedural complications when the parliament has been dissolved.

According to him, the main demand of Gen-Ji is a directly elected prime minister, so its implementation will depend on the composition of the parliament that will come after the next election. He said that the interim government led by Sushila Karki should set up a high-level commission to review, amend or rewrite the constitution and based on its recommendations, the government can proceed with the constitution amendment bill.

The said bill becomes a part of the constitution only after it is passed by two-thirds of the representatives. After that, by dissolving the parliament, we can immediately proceed to the election of the directly elected executive model', constitutionalist Gyawali says, 'only after this will the demand of Jen-G be fulfilled and only a direct executive head can give stability to the government.' This issue was raised by the Maoists during the constitution making. In the election manifesto, UML also advocated a directly elected prime minister. Within the Congress leaders including Narahari Acharya and Gagan Thapa raised this issue. As the founding party of the party stood in favor of the parliamentary system, this issue could not enter the Congress. The then Federal People's Rights Forum led by Maoists and Upendra Yadav stood in favor of a directly elected president during the Constituent Assembly and even now.

Deputy Secretary General of UML Pradeep Gyawali says that going to the model of directly elected executive head may cause geopolitical complications in a country like Nepal. In the election manifesto of the Constituent Assembly, UML gave the slogan of directly elected Prime Minister. But later we came to the conclusion that it is not suitable in a country like ours, Gyawali said. But due to the sensitive geopolitical situation of Nepal, this system may not be correct, it should be considered.

Jen-G has sought freedom from party interference in the control of corruption, directly elected government system, appointment of independent people in constitutional commissions, authority, wealth laundering etc. However, the political parties have been calling for amendments to the constitution by linking the advantages and disadvantages to themselves and the political parties they represent. Analysts say that if there is no coordination, the matter of reviewing the constitution can go into a complicated mode.

According to the existing constitution, there has been no change in the structure of the court. There is a complaint that political appointments in the courts are also reducing credibility in the administration of justice. There is a demand for radical changes in the constitutional structure that appoints judges and constitutional commissions. In a country like Nepal, there is widespread pressure to reduce the number of people's representatives at the union, state and local levels. A part of the Gen-G movement has raised the demand of abolishing the province. Although there is no abolition of provinces, there is a demand for radical revision in the number of people's representatives and ministers in the provincial government.

There are a total of 35,241 people's representatives in local, provincial and union. At the local level, there are 34,321 people's representatives in 753 municipalities. Each rural municipality has a chairman, vice-chairman, ward presidents and ward members (4 people, out of which 2 women and 1 Dalit woman). On an average, it is estimated that there will be 30-40 people's representatives in a rural municipality and 50-60 people's representatives in a municipality.

This number is even higher in big cities like Kathmandu Metropolitan City. There are a total of 550 MPs in 7 state assemblies. For example, the Bagmati State Assembly has 110 MPs, of which 66 are directly elected and 44 are elected by proportional representation. The Federal Parliament has 334 MPs including 275 in the House of Representatives (165 direct, 110 proportional) and 59 in the National Assembly.

Thus, there are 34,321 people's representatives at the local level, 550 in the state and 334 in the union. According to a study by the Federal Parliament, it is estimated that about 10 billion rupees will be spent annually for these people's representatives in terms of salaries, allowances, fuel and other facilities from the state fund.

Maoist Senior Vice President Narayankaji Shrestha said that even though comprehensive reforms are needed in the government system from government system to parliament, courts, states and constitutional commissions to end the overall corrupt practices of the state system, the constitution cannot be amended by the commission.

Maoist is positive on the demands raised by Jane-ji. Directly elected executive should be fully proportional for political stability. Ministers should be made from experts outside the parliament. In order to address the demands raised by the youth including good governance and corruption control, the constitutional parts of the state structure should also be radically restructured. Courts should be transformed and restructured. The authority structure should be reformed. The Maoists also need to pay attention, he said, "Constitution cannot be amended from outside the Parliament." This will cause more crisis.

Legal expert Gyawali says that if direct election goes, special amendments will be necessary in the related mixed election system, number of people's representatives, role of parliamentarians, etc. He suggested that the number of provinces can also be reduced. Gyawali says that even if the number of provinces is not reduced, the number of people's representatives needs to be reduced by more than half.

'Selection of MPs through mixed elections or in which model? Will the MP be the minister or will the minister be selected from outside the parliament? Will the local elections be made non-partisan or on a party basis? There is a need to review these issues as well", says Gyawali, "the structure of the justice system in the unitary system, fundamental rights that cannot be implemented should be removed, and the review and appointment structure of the Constitutional Commission, inclusiveness in the government, the number of provinces, the number of people's representatives and other issues need to be revised.

In the meantime, although the constitution has tried to institutionalize federalism, republicanism, secularism and inclusiveness, the question of its full implementation and acceptability has been raising the need for constitutional amendment for a long time. However, after the parties made the constitutional amendment a weapon of political manipulation, its anger has spilled out onto the streets. The Zen-G movement is a revolution of that. This has further expanded the issue of constitutional amendment.

'Jen-G generation has sought a radical change in the constitution to end excessive partisanship, constitutionalism and abuse of rule of law and corruption, but they have not looked for an alternative to the system', Gyawali says, 'Constitutional amendment will not weaken the system but will make it stronger.' "When Gen-Ji has a majority in the House of Representatives, will they advance the system of directly elected executive?" He says, "But can the National Assembly accept that the old parties have 100 percent control?" What will happen if he doesn't accept the directly elected executive, will he protest again?

Congress Vice President Purna Bahadur Khadka says that the way to save the constitution will be the main agenda of the major parties. He said that the day of October 3 this time is connected with the campaign to save the constitution. However, he says, how to proceed with the amendment agenda, which subjects can be amended will be decided only later.

Congress and UML have been calling the dissolution of the government and parliament formed by the Gen-G movement as illegal. They are ready to protest against it. The constitution has nowhere given the right to make a person who is not a member of parliament the prime minister and to dissolve the parliament on his recommendation. Therefore, our initial opinion is that both these steps are unconstitutional, we can first make a common opinion about what can be done within our party and then together with other parliamentarian parties', Khadka said. Gyawali's argument is that the foundation of the movement, the Acting Prime Minister and the leaders of all the top political parties in consultation with the government was formed according to the constitution and the President implemented the Prime Minister's recommendation to dissolve the Parliament, so it cannot be said that it is unconstitutional.

"This government was born out of political necessity and since the president appointed the prime minister on the recommendation and consent of the acting prime minister, the argument of the parties that interpret it as unconstitutional is not natural," he said.

Congress and UML brought the constitutional amendment into discussion to divide the country's politics into two poles, right and left. In other words, the issue of constitutional amendment was brought forward as part of the strategy of weakening the influence of small parties. Their main topic of debate was only on the constitutional arrangement of the electoral system and the legal arrangement of the threshold, which would spoil the two-party system.

On the other hand, ever since the promulgation of the constitution on 3rd October 2017, the Madhesh-centric parties have continued to celebrate the constitution day as a black day. Even though the issue of obtaining citizenship was addressed to a certain extent with the passing of the law by the then parliament, there is still a demand of Madhesh-centric parties on issues such as demarcation and inclusion of the province.

Their complaint is that the centralized mentality of the major parties has neglected the provinces in making the necessary laws and has hurt the essence of federalism itself.

Looking at the implementation aspect of ten years, there have been many conflicts due to the lack of clarity regarding the distribution of powers between the three levels of government. Provinces have become economically and administratively dilapidated due to lack of expansion of rights mentioned in schedule 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9 of the constitution.

The implementation of federalism is weak because the provinces are not given rights and resources. Despite the system of inclusive representation, the parties representing Madhesh complain that the affiliation of the Madheshi, tribal, Tharu and Dalit communities has not yet been established. Jaspa Nepal spokesperson Manish Suman said that his party also demands the constitution amendment agenda including the demand for a directly elected executive head raised by the Gen-Gs.

"We have partially accepted the constitution from the beginning by raising the issue of proportional inclusion and demarcation of provinces, for ten years we have not participated in any program of the Constitution Day, instead we have been protesting as a black day", he said, "The system of directly electing the executive head, which we have been raising, has now been brought by Gen-Gs." We have full support for this but this amendment must be passed by Parliament. Not from any commission.

UML Deputy Secretary General Gyawali says that it is not a small task to bring CK Raut to Netra Vikram Chand, who was politically in rebellion, into the mainstream of politics and to bring marginalized communities into the mainstream of politics through inclusion.

The most important aspect of democracy is periodic elections. It is the rule of representatives elected by the people and the transfer of power in a smooth manner", he said, "Union, state and local level elections were held on time. The government was elected by thousands of people's representatives. Some people may be criticized for their choices. However, the world has praised the system adopted by Nepal in terms of proportionality and inclusiveness", Gyawali said.

Maoist senior vice-chairman Shrestha said that his party will stand for the demand of direct election and executive government system raised by the Gen-G generation. He said that even though there is a provision to amend this constitution in such a way as to be adverse to Nepal's sovereignty, geographical integrity, independence and sovereignty vested in the people, it can be made timely.