Voter registration for CA poll should be the basis: Jitendra Sonal

Why is your party opposing the citizenship certificate as the basis for voter registration?

We are against the voter registration process that takes the citizenship certificate alone as its basis because a large numbers of Madhesi people are still deprived of citizenship. Since most of them do have other legal documents to prove that they are Nepali, the Election Commission (EC) must accept them. We think registering new voters only on the basis of citizenship is an act against the Madhesi people. It is a biased provision.[break]

Who is restricting the Madhesi people´s right to acquire citizen certificates from the District Administrative Office (DAO) since one can get the certificates round the year by showing the relevent documents?

You are right only in theory, but the story is different in practice as there is no easy distribution of citizenship certificates in all parts of the country.

Even though the government launched mega campaigns in 2007 and 2009 in the Terai region to enable people to get citizenship under relaxed provisions, why are many still deprived of the certificates?

It is true that the government launched special campaigns in 2007 to 2009 with flexible provisions. But we have seen no convincing argument to link citizenship certificates and the current voter registration process. We believe that voter registration data collected before the Constituent Assembly (CA) election should be used in the upcoming elections. What we don´t understand is why there is need of a new registration process based on citizenship?

Since the apex court ordered the government to precede with voter registration only on the basis of citizenship certificates, don´t you think the act of obstructing the EC´s program disregards the SC verdict?

We believe the apex court verdict is itself biased and the court verdict undermines the Madhesi people´s right to acquire citizenship. In that case, why didn´t the court say that those who produce their citizenship cards can vote in elections, instead of launching this new voter registration campaign.

Do you mean to say that the government should start another campaign with flexible provisions to distribute citizenship?

Absolutely, there is need of one more campaign, especially in the Tarai region, to distribute citizenship.