Lagatar24 Desk
New Delhi, Jan 28: Rabi Lamichhane resigned from his positions as Nepal’s Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister on Friday, after the Supreme Court found him guilty of failing to present a valid citizenship certificate to run in the parliamentary election.
Lamichhane (48) gave his resignation to Prachanda Pushpa Kamal Dahal, the prime minister.
Lamicchane informed the reporters at his office that he is ‘no longer the Deputy Prime Minister’ after submitting his resignation in response to the Supreme Court’s ruling.
“I am not even the president of the Rastriya Swotantra Party,” he said.
Welcoming the apex court’s verdict he said, “I am not even a citizen of this country or ‘Anagarik’ non-citizen.”
#UPDATE | Nepal Home Ministry to remain under the jurisdiction of Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal after the resignation of Rabi Lamichhane following Supreme Court’s verdict to sack him: Statement from President Office
— ANI (@ANI) January 28, 2023
On December 25, Lamichhane was named Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister. Due to the invalidity of the citizenship document Lamichhane presented in order to run for office in the parliamentary election, the Supreme Court declared Lamichhane’s standing as a lawmaker to be void.
“As Rabi Lamichhane has not completed the process for reacquiring his Nepali citizenship after renouncing his American citizenship, he cannot be a candidate for the position of a member of the House of Representatives or be elected to that position,” read the verdict.
After living in America for years, Lamichhane returned to Nepal in 2014 as a US citizen. A year later, he obtained a Nepali passport.
He is currently not even able to be called a citizen of Nepal because the court nullified his citizenship certificate, which prevents him from holding office as a minister or party leader.
According to Nepalese law, anyone who chooses to renounce their nationality or obtains a foreign passport would instantly lose their Nepalese citizenship.
