Kathmandu: The National Assembly (NA) has unanimously endorsed the Nepal Citizenship (second amendment) Bill, marking a significant development in the country’s legal framework regarding citizenship rights. The Bill, which was received from the House of Representatives (HoR) with an attached message, was presented by Home Minister Ramesh Lekhak during Friday’s NA session.
According to National News Agency Nepal, the Bill was passed unanimously and will now be sent back to the Lower House with the NA’s message. The Home Minister had initially registered the Bill in the HoR on January 28, 2025, which approved it on June 28, 2025. During the session, the Minister addressed queries from lawmakers, emphasizing that the Bill aims to ensure a practical provision for issuing citizenship in the mother’s name.
Minister Lekhak described the Bill as a historic advancement in citizenship provisions, crediting both the parliament and parliamentarians for their collective efforts. He highlighted that the Bill ensures that the ‘mother is also the lineage of offspring,’ facilitating the issuance of citizenship by descent. The Bill is designed to guarantee that no Nepali is deprived of citizenship as promised by the Constitution.
The discussions on the Bill saw participation from lawmakers Krishna Bahadur Rokaya, Renu Chand, Gopal Bhattarai, Maya Prasad Sharma, Padam Bahadur Pariyar, Bishnu Bahadur Bishwakarma, and Suresh Alemagar, who contributed to refining the Bill to make it more practical and simplified.