Supreme Court Issues Notice in Nepali Congress Legitimacy Dispute

Kathmandu. The Supreme Court on Friday issued an order to notify the opposing parties in two separate writ petitions filed regarding the legitimacy dispute of the Nepali Congress and demands to halt preparations for the general convention.

The hearing was scheduled before the bench of Acting Chief Justice Sapana Pradhan Malla and Justice Meghraj Pokharel.

The court ordered that notice be served to the opposing parties regarding a supplementary writ filed by the Sher Bahadur Deuba faction, which seeks to block the preparations for the general convention initiated by the faction led by President Gagan Thapa.

They did not file separate petitions but registered supplementary applications in the previously ongoing dispute. The two writs filed by the Sher Bahadur Deuba faction were combined for the hearing.

Deuba and Khadka filed the writ through their legal representative on Chaitra 25, demanding that the new schedule for the 15th General Convention not be implemented until the party's legitimacy dispute is resolved.

The writ filed by representative Shrawan Kumar Shrestha mentions that the new working committee, selected through a special general convention led by former General Secretaries Gagan Thapa and Bishwa Prakash Sharma despite President Deuba's disagreement, was updated by the Election Commission in violation of the Congress party statute.

A writ was filed on Magh 4, 2082, against the decision to grant party legitimacy to Gagan Thapa, and on Chaitra 26, a petition was submitted to the Supreme Court demanding that the new schedule for the 15th General Convention not be implemented until the party's legitimacy dispute is resolved.

Previously, the Supreme Court had refused to issue an interim order in the case regarding the Nepali Congress legitimacy dispute. On Magh 6, 2082, a single bench of Justice Sunil Kumar Pokharel refused to issue an interim order and instead ordered the Election Commission and others to submit a written response.

The hearing was scheduled after the Election Commission, the Nepali Congress party office, and President Gagan Thapa submitted their written responses. The legitimacy dispute in the Congress arose after the group led by Gagan Thapa and Bishwa Prakash Sharma called a special general convention and selected a new working committee. Former Acting President Purna Bahadur Khadka had filed the writ in court.

In the writ petition filed by Shrawan Kumar Shrestha, the representative for Congress leaders Deuba and Purna Bahadur Khadka, the petitioners have demanded the annulment of the Election Commission's decision and the dissolution of the newly elected working committee, labeling it illegal.