« Back to Provision

Constitutional Reform – 2012

Parties had finalized the composition of the government and federal legislature. Parties also had agreed that federalized state of Nepal was to have 11 states. The names of the provinces were to be finalized by the respective provincial assemblies and the federal commission was to finalize the territorial boundaries of the provinces.¹ But, under tremendous pressure from Madesh-based parties in the Maoist-led coalition government, the Maoist party backtracked from earlier agreements on federalism by insisting on a form of ethnically based federalism.² With this development, effort to resolve all contentious issues based on consensus between major political parties failed. This fed the mistrust among political parties at the crucial moment and parties failed to settle all contentious issues leading to the demise of the Constituent Assembly on 28 May 2012.

1. “Parties Agree on 11-Province Model,” Myrepublica, May 15, 2012.
2. “Maoist party ‘backtracks’ from earlier agreement,” Kathmandu Post, May 20, 2012.