Nepal's President signs bill to redraw map incorporating 3 Indian areas

Nepal’s President Bidya Devi Bhandari signed a proposed constitutional amendment that would change the nation’s political map to include strategically important territory also claimed by India. Nepal has long claimed the areas of Limpiyadhura, Kalapani and Lipu Lekh in accordance with an 1816 Sugauli treaty with the British Raj. However, India does not recognize Nepal's claims and says talks should be held on any outstanding boundary issues.

Kathmandu: Nepal's President Bidya Devi Bhandari on Thursday signed the Constitution amendment bill to update the country's new political map which incorporated three strategically important Indian areas, hours after the Parliament approved it, notwithstanding New Delhi's strong protests against such an "artificial enlargement" of territorial claims.

President Bhandari has authenticated the Constitution of Nepal, Second Amendment Bill, 2077, The Himalayan Times reported.

She "authenticated the bill stepping on the Article 274 (10) of the Constitution. With this, the process of implementation of the new map has officially completed," the paper said.

Nepal's Coat of Arms will now include the new map incorporating the territories of Limpiyadhura, Lipulekh and Kalapani, as the president has endorsed the bill passed by the House of Representatives and the National Assembly.

India has already termed as "untenable" the "artificial enlargement" of the territorial claims by Nepal after its lower house of Parliament on Saturday unanimously approved the new political map of the country featuring Lipulekh, Kalapani and Limpiyadhura areas which India maintains belong to it.

Nepal last month released the revised political and administrative map of the country laying claim over the strategically important areas, more than six months after India published a new map in November 2019.

Earlier in the day, the National Assembly, or the upper house of the Nepalese parliament, unanimously passed the Constitution amendment bill providing for the inclusion of the country's new political map in its national emblem.

(PTI Report)