Nepal’s Parliament passes Constitution Amendment Bill to update map incorporating 3 Indian areas

PTI, Jun 18, 2020, 1:39 PM IST

Kathmandu: Nepal’s National Assembly on Thursday unanimously passed the Constitution Amendment Bill to update the country’s political and administrative map incorporating three Indian territories.

India has termed as untenable the “artificial enlargement” of territorial claims by Nepal after its lower house of parliament on Saturday unanimously approved the new political map of the country featuring areas that India maintains belong to it.

The National Assembly, or the upper house of the Nepalese parliament, unanimously passed the constitution amendment bill providing for inclusion of the country’s new political map in its national emblem.

The bill was passed with all the 57 members present voting in its favor.

The ties between the two countries came under strain after Defence Minister Rajnath Singh inaugurated an 80-km-long strategically crucial road connecting the Lipulekh pass with Dharchula in Uttarakhand on May 8.

Nepal protested the inauguration of the road claiming that it passed through its territory. Days later, Nepal came out with the new map showing Lipulekh, Kalapani, and Limpiyadhura as its territories.