SC denies interim order on Rabi Lamichhane citizenship row

Kathmandu / Jan 6: The Supreme Court (SC) has refused to issue an interim order on a writ petition filed against Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister Rabi Lamichhane over his citizenship issue. With the court’s decision, Lamichhane’s position as a Member of Parliament (MP) will remain intact even as the case is sub judice at the apex court.

A Constitutional Bench comprising Acting Chief Justice Hari Krishna Karki, justices Ishwar Prasad Khatiwada, Dr Aanand Mohan Bhattarai, Anil Kumar Sinha and Prakash Man Singh Raut took a decision not to issue interim order after conducting a preliminary hearing on Lamichhane’s citizenship row.

Lamichhane, who is the chairman of Rastriya Swatantra Party, was an American citizen from 2007 to 2017. He was elected as a member of the House of Representatives (HoR) from Chitwan-2 during the recently-held election on November 20.

A writ petition was filed earlier at the apex court claiming that Lamichhane had renounced Nepali citizenship to get a US citizenship certificate. The petitioner Yubaraj Poudel had demanded the SC to bar Lamichhane from acting in the capacity of an MP as he had not acquired Nepali citizenship certificate after he renounced the document to become a US citizen.

The writ petitioner had demanded the apex court to issue an interim order to bar Lamichhane from working as an MP until the final verdict is issued on the case. The apex court is scheduled to hear further on the writ petition on January 25.