Himal Press 
KATHMANDU: The Sher Bahadur Deuba-led faction of the Nepali Congress (NC) has said it is not involved in the process of selecting candidates for the House of Representatives elections scheduled for March 5.
In a social media post, former Acting President Purna Bahadur Khadka said he had neither participated in nor been informed about any meeting or process related to the distribution of tickets for the 165 constituencies. “I want to make it clear to everyone that I have not been involved in any meeting or process concerning ticket distribution, nor have I received any information about it. Let there be no confusion,” the statement said.
Similarly, the secretariat of Shekhar Koirala’s faction of the party has also said that Koirala had not been informed about the criteria for distributing party tickets. “There is a crowd of leaders from across the country seeking tickets. But there is still no information on where, how, and on what basis the tickets are being distributed,” the secretariat said, adding that no member of the Central Working Committee formed through the special general convention had contacted Koirala.
The Deuba faction has formally challenged the Election Commission’s decision to recognise the Thapa-led Central Working Committee at the Supreme Court. It has been argued that the move violated the party’s statute and internal democratic procedures. The apex court is hearing the petition on Tuesday. The dispute has effectively split the party into rival camps, each claiming legitimacy over organisational decisions, including candidate selection.
Despite this, the Election Commission has said the election schedule will not be changed. Acting Chief Election Commission Ram Prasad Bhandari told reporters on Monday that the nomination filing process will begin on Tuesday morning as planned, and all election-related programs will proceed according to the existing timetable.
Meanwhile, the Thapa-led leadership of the NC has already begun picking candidates for the upcoming elections.
