By Our Reporter

The agenda of the constitution amendment raised by the two big parties—Nepali Congress and the CPN (UML)-- is likely to face a snag as the two parties lack a two thirds majority in the House of Representatives and the National Assembly while the smaller political parties which are backing the present government are also suspicious of the two parties after they started making a move to establish a two-party system.

Many of the Tarai-based parties, which are a part of the present NC-UML coalition, are trying to develop joint front to raise the Madhes issue while small parties are suspicious after the exercise to increase the threshold to get the identity of the national parties has begun.  When NC and UML lack a two-thirds majority in the parliament and when the smaller parties do not support, the constitution amendment looks impossible until the next elections. As such, what the Prime Minister said a few weeks ago looks relevant. PM Oli had said that the constitution could be amended only after 2030, which means after holding the general election of 2027 and the NA poll of 2029.

Currently, NC and UML have 167 members in total in the 275-member House of Representatives and they need 14 more members to show a two-thirds majority in the lower House. The NC and UML lack even a simple majority in the 59-member National Assembly. NC has 16 members and the UML 10 totalling 26 in the Upper House while 40 members are required to show a two-thirds majority.  So, it is impossible for the two parties to amend the constitution at present.