KATHMANDU, AUGUST 18

The House of Representatives today passed the citizenship bill as it is. The House took its call on the bill after President Bidhya Devi Bhandari invoked Article 113 (3) of the constitution and sent the bill back to the Lower House, asking it to reconsider the bill.

Of the 195 lawmakers present in the House, 135 voted in favour of passing the bill as it is, whereas 60 lawmakers voted against the bill.

Speaker Agni Prasad Sapkota ordered the record voting after CPN- UML Chief Whip Bishal Bhattarai said the bill should be decided through record voting.

Taking part in the debate on the bill, CPN-UML lawmakers demanded that there should be a seven-year waiting period for foreign women marrying Nepali citizens to obtain matrimonial naturalisation. They also said that the bill should be sent to the relevant parliamentary panel and it should be passed on the basis of national consensus.

Lawmakers representing the Nepali Congress, Janata Samajbadi Party-Nepal and Democratic Socialist Party-Nepal defended the bill saying it should be passed urgently as lakhs of eligible citizens, particularly children of Nepali citizens by birth, had been deprived of the most important identity document. Without it, they were unable to apply for jobs, open bank accounts, or buy SIM cards, they added.

Responding to lawmakers' queries, Home Minister Bal Krishna Khand said UML lawmakers should not oppose the bill, as it contained the same provisions that were there in the citizenship bill brought by the then KP Sharma Oli government four years ago and the citizenship ordinance is-sued by the Oli government last year.

He said the government did not wish to change anything about matrimonial naturalisation related provisions as there was no consensus on the issue. He said parties could seek to amend the provision of new citizenship bill after forging consensus later, but it would not be prudent to hold the bill just because there was no consensus on the provision related to matrimonial naturalisation.

Khand argued that the current provision related to matrimonial naturalisation had been there for the past 70 years.

Referring to the UML's support to the 1990 constitution, 2007 Interim Constitution, and the Citizenship Act-2006, Khand wondered how it would be justifiable for UML leaders who had agreed to support matrimonial naturalisation related provisions 10-15 years ago to change their position now.

The minister said children of citizens by birth were unable to open bank accounts, start businesses, buy SIM cards, or apply for jobs since they lacked citizenship certificate.

The bill will enable children of citizens by birth to obtain Nepali citizenship.

It will enable children of Nepali mothers whose fathers cannot be traced to obtain citizenship by descent.

Non-resident Nepalis can also obtain citizenship and enjoy social, economic, and cultural rights, but not political rights.

This bill has to be passed by the National Assembly before the speaker sends it for the president's assent.

Assistant Spokesperson for the Parliament Secretariat Dasharath Dhamala said the bill would be tabled in the NA with the president's message on August 22. He said the NA would have the option to send the bill to the relevant panel or decide it through full House debate. The ruling alliance has two-thirds majority in the NA.

A version of this article appears in the print on August 19, 2022 of The Himalayan Times.