Mahantha Thakur’s claim that draft constitution affects Madhesis’ right to employment is incorrect

Sujit Mainali / September 2, 2015

The Himalayan Times report headlined “Madhesis cannot accept incomplete constitution: Thakur” published on 3 August 2015 has quoted the chairperson of the Terai-Madhesh Democratic Party (TMDP) Mahantha Thakur as saying the following:

“Article 282 of the draft constitution can…affect citizen’s right to employment.”

Click here to read the report.

Thakur in the report says that the provision in the preliminary draft of the constitution that discourages a person bearing naturalized citizenship from assuming constitutional posts, will limit employment opportunities for Madhesi people with naturalized citizenship.

During a telephone conversation with southasiacheck.org, Thakur confirmed that he had indeed made the aforementioned comment during his conversation with a representative of the The Himalayan Times.

What does Article 282 of the draft constitution actually say?

Article 282 of the preliminary draft of the constitution says: “A person should have acquired citizenship by descent for his/her election or nomination or appointment as the President, Vice-President, Prime Minister, Chief Justice, Speaker of parliament, Chairperson of National Assembly, head of the province, chief minister, speaker of provincial assembly and chief of security bodies.”

To be eligible for appointment in other positions in the constitutional bodies, a person should meet any one of the following conditions, according to the preliminary draft:

• Has been a naturalized citizen of Nepal for at least 10 years.
• Has acquired a citizenship based on descent.
• Has married a Nepali citizen and acquired naturalized citizenship (in case of a foreign woman).
• Has re-acquired Nepali citizenship by descent after renouncing it and has been living in Nepal for at least five years.

According to Article 282, these conditions apply only for constitutional posts and the Article has said nothing about its applicability for government or private sector employment.

So, Thakur’s claim that “Article 282 of the draft constitution can…affect citizen’s right to employment” is not correct.

This material is copyrighted but may be used for any purpose by giving due credit to southasiacheck.org.

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