Citizenship Bill reached court due to PM: Rabi Lamichhane

Rastriya Swatantra Party President Rabi Lamichhane has said that the Citizenship Bill reached the court due to Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal. Speaking at a Parliament meeting on Monday, Lamichhane said that the Citizenship Bill was certified in an illegal way. President Ram Chandra Paudel authenticated the controversial Citizenship Bill on May 31.

On June 1, senior advocate Surendra Bhandari and advocate Bal Krishna Neupane moved the Supreme Court against the authentication of the bill.

Hearing the writ petitions on Sunday, a single bench of Justice Manoj Kumar Sharma issued a short-term order directing the government not to implement the Citizenship Bill certified by President Paudel. The Citizenship Act has already been published in the Nepal gazette. On August 15, 2022, President Bidya Devi Bhandari had returned this very Bill to the House of Representatives for a review, in accordance with a constitutional provision, 15 days after its submission for authentication after endorsement from the House of Representatives and the National Assembly on July 22 and July 28, respectively.