Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal has challenged the main opposition party CPN-UML to defeat the constitution amendment bill registered at the Legislature-Parliament. 

PM Dahal urged the CPN-UML to vote down the bill with a one-third majority in the House instead of obstructing the Parliament proceedings. He further said that he wouldn’t be annoyed in case the bill failed after going through parliamentary proceedings. 

The amendment proposal was lodged as per the spirit of 3-point agreement forged before the formation of this government, Dahal said. 

"The amendment was registered considering the complaints from agitating sides that earlier amendments did not properly address their demands. It was also necessary because of current political circumstance that needs to move ahead by taking onboard all sides including Tarai, hill and mountain regions," said the PM, while interacting with journalists at a programme organised by Press Centre Kaski here on Friday. 

He added that the amendment proposal was not brought in a hurry and it took four months of homework to finally register the bill. It was registered after several rounds of negotiations with main opposition party, Madhesi, Tharu and Sanghiya Gathabandhan, he further elaborated. 

"The amendment bill was introduced with the objective to keep the national integrity intact. It does not contain anything against the nation and sentiments of Nepalis," the PM said. 

Talking about the recent protests against the split of province 5 proposed in the amendment bill, PM claimed that the proposal for revising border of province 5 was brought forth by the UML. "I only pushed the proposal that was proposed by KP Oli and seconded by Nepali Congress," said PM Dahal. 

PM Dahal questioned why there was no protest in province 2 where none of the hill districts have been inducted? He accused the protesters of trying to mislead the citizens with nationalist slogans while, in fact, he was trying to strengthen the national unity by including the rights of Madhesi, Janajati and Tharu and to keep Madhes, hill and mountain in balance. 

He asserted that the amendment proposal will not be rolled back but it can be revised through Parliamentary process. "If the UML does not come together for consensus, it will not only worsen the protest in province 5, but will also trigger protest against federalism and democracy," said PM Dahal.

Talking about elections, Dahal said that local level elections will be conducted in the first phase.

At a time when the talks about holding elections under existing structure are making rounds, PM Dahal refuted having made any such decision. "We [Dahal, Sher Bahadur Deuba and KP Oli] talked about revising VDCs and municipalities and conduct local elections, however, we have not reached any conclusion," he clarified.