Himal Press 
KATHMANDU: The Sher Bahadur Deuba-led faction of the Nepali Congress (NC) has urged the Election Commission (EC) to postpone the date for filing nominations for the House of Representatives elections.
Party Office Chief Secretary Krishna Prasad Paudel, former Attorney General Khamba Bahadur Khati, and advocate Keshav Raj Joshi went to the Election Commission on Sunday afternoon to register the application.
As per the election program published by the EC, candidates are required to file nominations on January 20.
The faction submitted a written request to the EC shortly after it filed a writ petition at the Supreme Court against its decision to recognize the Central Working Committee elected by the party’s Special General Convention led by Gagan Kumar Thapa.
The Deuba faction has urged the EC to suspend all election-related programs until judicial resolution of the case. The faction has been maintaining that the special convention was against the party statute and that the new Central Executive Committee is invalid.
In the writ petition, the faction has called for the suspension of all election-related programs until a final verdict is delivered on the case. “The EC failed to conduct discussions with both factions of the party, as required under Sections 43, 44, 45, and 46 of the Act, and denied one side the opportunity to be heard,” it said. “The EC’s decision of January 16 appears to have effectively barred a democratic party like the Nepali Congress from participating in the election.”
