Adhikari wrong about women’s representation in Federal Parliament

Sujit Mainali / January 2, 2018

Photo: Youtube

While commenting on the representation of women in the Federal Parliament, CPN-UML leader Rabindra Adhikari said the following during an interview with Nepallive.com published on December 31:

 “The constitution does not say anything if the total number of women representatives in both the assemblies remains below 33 percent.”

Here, Adhikari says that the constitution has not made it mandatory for the political parties to ensure 33.33 percent representation in the Federal Parliament. According to Article 83 of the Constitution of Nepal, 2015, the House of Representative and the National Assembly combined is known as the Federal Parliament.

But Article 84 (8) of the Constitution clearly states that at least a third of the total members elected from each political party representing in the Federal Parliament must be women. If women are not so elected as to constitute one third of the elected members of any political party through the first-past-the-post electoral system of the House of Representatives and election of the National Assembly, the deficient number must be covered through proportional electoral system in the House of Representatives.

Therefore, Adhikari’s statement is wrong.

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