Four complaints have been filed at the Office of the Chief Election Officer, Chitwan, against Rabi Lamichhane’s candidacy for the by-election in the House of Representatives constituency of Chitwan-2.
According to Assistant Election Officer Ishwar Acharya, by-election candidates and their representatives have filed three complaints against Lamichhane while one complaint has been received by email.
Acharya said Yuvaraj Paudel, who hails from Sindhuli and is currently living in Kathmandu-31, has sent his complaint by email.
Paudel has said in his complaint that an individual who has renounced foreign citizenship cannot be an election candidate for at least three months.
He has also claimed that Nepali citizenship was both issued and acquired without presenting evidence of certification by the US government or the US Embassy that Lamichhane had renounced his US citizenship.
Paudel has stated that Lamichhane can become a candidate only after it is ascertained as per the Supreme Court’s order whether such evidence had been presented or not. He has demanded that Lamichhane’s candidacy be canceled if no such evidence is found to have been presented.
Lamichhane reacquired Nepali citizenship from the District Administration Office, Kathmandu on January 29.
Independent candidate Santosh Thapa, Rastriya Janamorcha candidate Janak Raj Sharma’s representative Dambar Puri and independent candidate Ambika Bhatta’s representative Shiva Bahadur Subedi have filed three complaints at the office itself.
According to Acharya, they have stated in their complaints that Lamichhane had filed candidacy on the basis of the previous voter list and also that he cannot become a candidate for three months after acquiring citizenship.
The Office of the Chief Election Officer has said that it will seek clarification regarding the complaints from the candidate concerned and then send it to the Election Commission.
