Constitutional crisis in making as Nepal’s president refuses to sign citizenship bill

ISTANBUL

Nepal’s President Bidya Devi Bhandari has refused to sign an amended Citizenship Act-2006 even after both the houses of the Himalayan nation’s parliament passed it.

This, observers say, can trigger a constitutional crisis in the landlocked nation as the president is merely a constitutional head with no executive powers.

It was the second time that Bhandari returned the bill, backed by the ruling coalition of the Nepali Congress, the CPN (Maoist Centre), the CPN (Unified Socialist), the Janata Samajbadi Party and the Rastriya Janamorcha, along with the Loktantrik Samajbadi Party, on Tuesday, reiterating the bill was discriminatory to single mothers.

When it becomes law, more than 500,000 people would get Nepal’s citizenship certificates, allowing them to vote.

Nepal is set for general elections around the third week in November when 275 seats of the lower house will be up for grabs.

The amendment allows citizenship to children whose parents’ whereabouts are not known, while Nepalis of foreign nationality will also get documents enabling them to do business in the country.

A Kathmandu-based political analyst told Anadolu Agency that the president, who rose to the country’s highest office with support from CPN-UML opposition parties has sought a thorough review of the bill.

“Citizenship issue is always controversial in Nepal as it has political consequences,” said the analyst, wishing to remain anonymous.

If the bill is approved and becomes law, it will allow tens of hundreds of Madheshi community members – a term to define those people in Nepal with Indian ancestry who mainly reside in the plains of the Himalayan nation -- citizenship and voting rights.

“This means expansion of voter base support of specific political parties seen leaning towards New Delhi,” he explained.

KP Oli, the former prime minister, along with other opposition parties, said the analyst, is “using the nationalist card.”

“Thus, this amendment to the citizenship bill will snowball into a big political agenda for the upcoming elections,” he said, adding: “What remains to be seen is whether the president survives her refusal to sign the bill into law.”

The opposition parties demand that the bill “must include a provision requiring foreign women to wait for seven years before getting Nepali citizenship.”

While there is no clarity in Nepal’s 2015-imposed Constitution regarding what will happen in this case, the law, however, states that the president is bound to sign the bill when the sitting government sends it for the second time after passing it in the parliament.

There is intense debate and two options have come up – impeaching the president or taking legal recourse, said the analyst.

“Since parliament’s five-year term has already ended, it means the president cannot be impeached. Whether the case goes to court remains to be seen,” he added.