Kathmandu, Sep 9 (IANS): Nepal's political parties are set to hold an all-party conference later this month to persuade the CPN-Maoist, which boycotted the Constituent Assembly elections last year, to come on board the constitution drafting process, party leaders said Tuesday.

A task force comprising members from major parties -- the Nepali Congress, Communist Party of Nepal-Unified Marxist Leninist (CPN-UML), United Communist Party of Nepal-Maoist (UCPN-M) and Communist Party of Nepal-Maoist -- is making preparations to hold the conference in the third week of September, Xinhua reported.

The task force is finalising the procedures, terms of condition and other technical details of the round table conference which will be chaired by Prime Minister Sushil Koirala.

After a long hiatus, major parties that are in the Constituent Assembly have agreed to hold an all-party conference, a major demand of the CPN-M since last year.

The CPN-M has said it was ready to join the constitution drafting process if its demand for an all-party conference was addressed.

Parties plan to settle contentious issues coming in the way of drafting the new constitution only after the ongoing talks with CPN-M reach a conclusion.

The CPN-M says there should be an agreement among parties on contentious issues in drafting the new constitution at the conference and that the agreement should be endorsed by the Constituent Assembly.

Parties have been sharply divided on forms of governance, federalism, judiciary and electoral system.

"We have to wait for the CPN-M before making any decisions on contentious issues of the new constitution," Pushpa Kamal Dahal, chairman of the UCPN-M, said Tuesday in a constitution drafting meeting.

Parties have already missed the Sep 6 deadline to forge a consensus on contentious issues of the new constitution.