Nepal, formerly the only Hindu kingdom in the world and now a federal republic in making, introduced citizenship law in 1952 for the first time at the dawn of the first municipal elections held in 1953. Nepal’s citizenship policy has passed through a number of controversies, debates and disagreements since then. The main dissidents are the Madheshis living in the Southern plains (popularly known as the Tarai) adjoined with the Indian border. The crux of the problem rests on the sociological basis of immigrant–native contestation. The Madheshis, due to their alleged ancestral and cultural connection with North Indian people, do not appear as true Nepalis to the non-Madheshis or hill-origin people, and at the same time, the Madheshis also allege that the hill-origin people of the Tarai are encroachers migrated from the hills. In this context, I inquire into the trajectory that the citizenship debate in Nepal and the concerns of the Madheshis has taken with reference to citizenship-related constitutional provisions and legal stipulations.

尼泊尔曾经是世界上唯一的印度教王国，现在成为一个联邦共和国。在1953年举行的第一次市政选举开始之初，尼泊尔于1952年首次引入了公民法。尼泊尔的公民权政策经历了许多争议，从那以后的辩论和分歧。主要持不同政见者是住在与印度边界毗邻的南部平原（通常称为塔莱）的马德西人。问题的症结在于移民与本地竞争的社会学基础。Madheshi族人由于据称与北印度人有祖传和文化联系，因此对于非Madheshi族或原住民来说，并不是真正的尼泊尔人，与此同时，Madheshi族人还声称，原住民为印第安人。塔莱是从山上迁来的侵略者。在这种情况下，