Deuba faction denied interim order

KATHMANDU: The Supreme Court has refused to issue an interim order in the writ petition filed against the Election Commission’s decision to recognise the Central Working Committee elected by the 2nd Special General Convention of the Nepali Congress.

A single bench of Justice Sunil Kumar Pokharel rejected the request for an interim order on Tuesday. “Since complex constitional questions related to politics such as to what extent should this court interfere, through the exercise of its extraordinary jurisdiction, in the decisions made by the defendant Election Commission in light of the legal provisions of Section 48 and Section 51 of the Political Parties Act, 2017, taking into consideration the guidelines specified by the provisions of Article 269, Clause 4(a) of the Constitution of Nepal, 2015, appear to be of a nature that will be addressed during the final hearing of this writ petition, there is no need to issue the requested interim order at this time,” the order states.

The bench also ordered the Election Commission and other defendants to submit a written response within 15 days explaining why the interim order should not be issued as requested by the petitioners.

Outgoing NC President Sher Bahadur Deuba had filed the writ petition. Deuba has made the Election Commission, NC President Thapa, Vice President Bishwa Prkash Sharma, and the Central Working Committee elected by the 2nd Special General Convention as defendants in the petition.

The bench also decided to put the case on a priority list for hearing.

The Election Commission on January 16 decided to recognize the new Central Working Committee led by Gagan Kumar Thapa.