End of voter registration row

The Supreme Court ruling that a citizenship card is a must to get one’s name registered in the voters’ list ends the protracted row over the issue and it should be obeyed by all political parties and law-abiding citizens. The apex court ruling is anything but surprising as it has come as per Article 63(7) of the Interim Constitution that explicitly states that only Nepali citizens enjoy the right to vote. The Election Commission (EC), following stiff protests from the Madhes-based parties, had agreed to accept other evidence such as land ownership certificates, to register names in the voter list. Now that the Supreme Court has given its decision it should be taken as the final word and the suspended registration process should resume accordingly.



Madhes-based parties, which protested the EC´s initial decision to register voter names only on the basis of citizenship cards and forced it to accept other documentary evidence, should now abide by the apex court´s decision. Since the apex court is the only competent authority for interpreting the constitution there should be no attempt from any quarter to interpret it otherwise.



The Supreme Court has also issued an important ruling to the government, asking the Office of the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers to make effective arrangements for issuing citizenship to all eligible Nepalis. In its ruling, the court has tried to address the concern of Madhes-based parties that not all Madhesis have received their citizenship certificates. The government had distributed about two million citizenship cards in 2007 in a massive campaign to provide citizenship certificates to deserving Nepalis.



We don´t think there is any need for another such campaign but if there are still people without their citizenship papers, they should go to the district administration office and get such papers issued immediately. The government must make sure that district administration offices issue citizenship certificates to genuine citizens without hassle or delay.



The citizenship issue, however, is not the only problem relating to the ongoing voter registration campaign. It is only in about five Tarai districts that this issue has disrupted the voter registration. Law and order (or rather the lack of it) remains the major challenge for completing the registration process. For instance, in nine eastern hill districts, various Limbuwan groups have stalled the voter registration, demanding that the region covering these districts first be declared a Limbuwan State.



Deciding the federal structure of the country is the special jurisdiction of the Constituent Assembly; therefore, any attempt to stall voter registration under any pretext should be dealt with seriously. The thirty-million dollar voter registration project is an important effort to rectify our flawed election process and it goes directly to the heart of democracy’s institutionalization. It should be completed at any cost and without any delay.

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