Nepal's Parliament unanimously passes bill to include Indian territories in it

Nepal's Upper House on Thursday unanimously passed the Constitution Amendment Bill to update the country's map incorporating three Indian territories. All 57 members voted in support of the bill. The Nepal-India relations turned sour after Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on May 8 inaugurated the 80-km long strategically crucial road connecting the Lipulekh pass with Dharchula in Uttarakhand. Unhappy with New Delhi's decision to construct a road in the particular area, Kathmandu protested the inauguration of the road and came out with the new map showing Lipulekh, Kalapani and Limpiyadhura as its territories. 

Nepal's House of Representatives on June 13 passed a bill to in order to amend the country’s political map and include strategic areas bordering India to its territory, such as Kalapani, Lipulekh and Limpiyadhura, in the country’s Constitution. Nepal Opposition parties, including the Nepali Congress (NC), Rastriya Janata Party-Nepal (RJP-N) and Rastriya Prajatantra Party (RPP) had voted in favour of the bill to amend Schedule 3 of the Constitution to update the national emblem by incorporating the new controversial map.

India had strongly protested against Nepal's decision terming the move as a violation and an artificial enlargement of claims. Reacting strongly to the neighbouring country's move, Union Ministry of External Affairs, Anurag Srivastava, said, "We have noted that the House of Representatives of Nepal has passed a constitution amendment bill for changing the map of Nepal to include parts of Indian territory we have already made our position clear on this matter.''

Nepal's Upper House endorses the New Map Amendment Bill (Coat of Arms) proposal, unanimously; 57 votes in support and 0 votes against or abstained. pic.twitter.com/Ff1Alz4cxk

— ANI (@ANI) June 18, 2020