Kathmandu, November 6
The Prachanda-led government has proposed amending the Constitution by including a provision that will let naturalised citizens hold important constitutional positions like President and Prime Minister after they live in Nepal for 10 years as permanent residents.
While the main opposition CPN-UML says this provision is not acceptable to the party, Madheshi Morcha (UDMF) leaders say the proposed Constitutional amendment has given continuity to relevant provisions mentioned in the Interim Constitution.
UDMF leaders have been saying that the new Constitution, promulgated through the Constituent Assembly, is regressive than the interim constitution when it comes to citizenship provisions. They have been saying that such regressive provisions are not acceptable to them. The government is preparing to amend the Charter to address Madheshi leader’s grievances.
Interestingly, the main opposition had accepted citizenship-related provisions mentioned in the interim constitution.
A source says naturalised citizens will be eligible for appointments in constitutional positions after they spend 10 years in Nepal as permanent citizens after naturalisation. A leader said they are just giving continuity to the provision mentioned in the interim constitution.
Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal has been saying in public fora that the government will prepare a Constitution amendment proposal on citizenship in line with relevant provisions mentioned in the interim constitution.
The government is preparing to register its amendment proposal on November 10. Right now, it is giving finishing touches to Constitution Amendment Bill. Leaders involved in the process say the Bill will be ready by Monday.
As per the new Constitution, which replaces the interim constitution, naturalised citizens can never be eligible for nine important constitutional positions like President and Prime Minister.
It says only those people, who have acquired citizenship by descent, will be eligible for the positions of President, Vice-President, Prime Minister, Chief Justice, Speaker of the House, Chair of the National Assembly, Provincial Chief, Chief Minister, Speaker of Provincial Assembly and Chiefs of security agencies.
But the amendment has proposed making naturalised citizens also eligible for these important positions, once they complete 10-year-long stay in Nepal after naturalisation.
For this amendment to be a part of the Constitution, the House will have to pass this amendment proposal with a two-third majority.
This means the amendment will not pass the House muster without support of the UML.
The UML says the proposal is unacceptable. UML Secretary Pradip Gyawali said: After some serious thinking, we had included a provision in the Constitution that bars naturalised citizens from holding nine important constitutional positions. Demand for amending this provision is not coming from the Madheshi and Nepali people, so this proposal is unacceptable to us.
