As we see it, the Madhesi parties--MPRF, TMDP, SP-- have ganged up to give continuity to a fraudulent electoral system that favors them in the southern plains and to keep the door open for Indian nationals to “buy” Nepali citizenship. The Madhesi parties’ argument that not all Nepalis residing in the southern plains have citizenship cards and therefore voter registration based on the citizenship card disenfranchises them is ludicrous, to say the least.
Let’s first set the record straight: The citizenship problem was resolved in 2007 when the then government made exceptional concessions and relaxed the citizenship laws to allow virtually any eligible Nepali to obtain citizenship. According to the relaxed provisions, any individual residing in Nepal since 1990 and possessing a land ownership certificate was made eligible for citizenship. To facilitate the poor who didn’t posses any ownership certificate for land or anything else, the law said they would still be eligible for citizenship if three bona fide Nepali citizens (who already have citizenship) certified that the person in question had been residing in Nepal since 1990.
After relaxing the citizenship law despite stiff opposition from some quarters and a legal challenge, the government launched a citizenship distribution campaign and sent government teams from village to village in all 75 districts to issue citizenships. During this campaign over 2.6 million people obtained citizenship and many Madhesi leaders at the time said that the citizenship problem had been adequately addressed. None of them protested that the problem still persisted.
One might argue that more Nepalis have become eligible for citizenship since then. Of course. But the district administration offices issue citizenship to eligible Nepalis throughout the year. So one cannot think of any reason why eligible Nepalis would not have received their citizenship certificates, unless of course the Madhesi parties can come up with evidence that some district administration offices deliberately denied citizenship to some.
Now, coming to the voter registration process, our constitution clearly says that only citizens of this country have the right to vote and that is also what the Supreme Court asserted in its latest ruling on the issue. So there is no reason why the Election Commission (EC) should stall voter registrations on the basis of citizenship certificates as demanded by the Madhesi Front. The EC should continue the registration process and the government should make sure that no party or its goons obstruct it.
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