A writ petition has been filed against Gambu Sherpa, the chairman of Khijidemba Rural Municipality in Okhaldhunga district, demanding that his position be scrapped over the citizenship issue.

Bhupendra Basnet, who contested the local poll against Sherpa in May last year, filed the petition at the Okhaldhunga bench of the Biratnagar High Court claiming that Sherpa failed to reacquire Nepali citizenship after relinquishing his green card of the USA.

Sherpa, who stayed in the USA for 17 years, contested and won the local poll on the Janata Samajbadi Party ticket.

He claimed that he fulfilled due legal process to compete in the local elections as per the legal provisions of the country.