The youth union of opposition CPN-UML (Communist Party of Nepal- Unified Marxist Leninist) on Wednesday burnt the effigy of the Nepal President and Prime Minister protesting ratification of the Citizenship Amendment Bill.
Members of Youth Federation Nepal burnt the effigy of President Ram Chandra Paudel and Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal and marched towards the Parliament in the capital Kathmandu. Bearing live torches, the youth wing of Nepal’s opposition chanted slogans against President and Prime Minister demanding their resignation. Earlier on Wednesday morning, President Ram Chandra Paudel authenticated the bill to amend the Citizenship Act.
According to a statement issued by the President’s Office, the President authenticated the bill as per Article 61 (2) (3) (4) and Article 66 of the Constitution of Nepal and in accordance with the principle propounded by the Supreme Court after receiving a letter from the Office of the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers requesting the authentication of the amendment bill.
The government following a Cabinet meeting on May 26 had requested President Paudel to authenticate the bill which former President Bidya Devi Bhandari had repeatedly refused to endorse.
A case filed against then President Bhandari’s refusal to authenticate the bill twice sent to her by the federal parliament is currently sub-judice at the Supreme Court. As per Article 113 (3) of the Constitution, the president can send back a bill passed by the federal parliament for reconsideration once.
“In case the President is of the opinion that any Bill, except a Money Bill, presented for authentication needs reconsideration, he or she may, within fifty days from the date of submission of such Bill, send back the Bill along with his or her message to the House in which the Bill originated,” it says about an exception to mandatory certification of bills sent to the president.
However, Article 113 (4) requires the president to authenticate any bill sent for a second time after being passed by both Houses of Parliament.
“In case any Bill is sent back along with a message by the President, and both Houses reconsider and adopt such Bill as it was or with amendments and present it again, the President shall authenticate that Bill within fifteen days of such presentation,” it states.
The then President Bhandari refused to authenticate the bill violating that provision.
On August 14, Bhandari returned the Citizenship Bill sent to her for authentication after being passed by both the House of Representatives (HoR) and the National Assembly. She had sent a seven-point message to inform the federal parliament and for deliberation, and another eight-point message for drawing attention.
Bhandari had mainly raised two issues while sending the bill back. She had mentioned that the bill was silent about the provision of naturalized citizenship through marriage as per Article 11 (6) of the Constitution.
“If a foreign woman married to a Nepali citizen so wishes, she may acquire naturalized citizenship of Nepal as provided for in a Federal law,” states Article 11(6) of the Constitution.
President Bhandari pointed out that the Constitution clearly says federal law but the bill passed by the federal parliament did not have that provision.
She had also raised questions about the provision requiring self-declaration by a woman to provide citizenship to her children. Bhandari also drew the House’s attention to other issues but mainly asked the House to reconsider the two issues.
The bill does not propose any restrictions on foreigners marrying Nepali citizens while acquiring naturalized citizenship. The main opposition CPN-UML, to which Bhandari was affiliated before becoming president, has been protesting the removal of the provision in the report submitted by the State Affairs and Good Governance Committee of the HoR that required foreigners marrying Nepali citizens to wait for seven years to get naturalized citizenship.
The bill passed by the federal parliament also has a provision to grant citizenship by descent to the children of those who received citizenship by birth through a one-time arrangement after the People’s Movement II in 2006.
Citizenship by birth was granted to persons born in Nepal before mid-April 1990, having permanent domicile and being continuously resident in Nepal throughout their life through the one-time arrangement.
The passed bill also allows citizenship to a person only through the name of a mother but has put four conditions for that. The child should be born in Nepal, should be residing in Nepal, the father should be unidentified and the person should make a self-declaration that the father has not been identified for that.
The person taking the citizenship certificate can choose to take the surname and address of either the father or mother. The bill has also paved the way for non-resident citizenship to anyone living outside the SAARC countries if there is proof that the person’s father/mother or grandfather/grandmother is/was a Nepali citizen.
Bhandari had earlier authenticated an ordinance, sent by the then prime minister KP Sharma Oli after dissolving the House, that included similar provisions.
The bill’s passage has cleared the way to citizenship for up to 400,000 people who have been deprived of their constitutional rights and remain stateless in their own country.