Supreme Court Declines Interim Order in Congress Legitimacy Dispute

The Supreme Court has refused to issue an interim order in the writ petition filed by leaders including Sher Bahadur Deuba against the Election Commission (EC) and others over the legitimacy of the Nepali Congress.

A single bench of Justice Sunil Kumar Pokharel, on Tuesday, January 20, instead, issued a show-cause order to the EC and other defendants.

The court said the petition raises complex and serious legal and constitutional questions. Citing the urgency of the issues, the Supreme Court ordered that the case be taken up on a priority basis. It directed that the final hearing be held within 15 days of the respondents submitting their written replies, or after the deadline for doing so expires.

The order notes that the petition questions the legality of convening the Nepali Congress special general convention. It also raises issues related to the interpretation of the party statute. Further, it questions whether the EC’s update of party details under Sections 48 and 51 of the Political Parties Act, 2017, was lawful.

The court said the question of whether an ongoing election schedule can be halted due to an internal dispute within a political party is itself a serious constitutional issue.

It added that matters such as the validity of the special general convention under the party statute, the authority of the general secretary to convene it, and the extent of the Supreme Court’s extraordinary jurisdiction to intervene in EC decisions should be decided only after the final hearing.

The Deuba faction filed the writ petition on Sunday, January 18, challenging the EC’s decision to formally recognise the Gagan Thapa-led central committee. However, most leaders from the faction have already filed nominations for the general elections.

Leaders including Prakash Sharan Mahat and Bimalendra Nidhi, who accompanied Purna Bahadur Khadka to file the petition, submitted their nominations from Nuwakot-1 and Dhanusha-3 respectively. They received election tickets from the Thapa-led committee.

The petition sought to overturn the EC’s endorsement of the Thapa leadership. The Deuba camp had argued that the party’s second special general convention, which elected Thapa as party president, was unconstitutional and violated internal party statutes.

The petition came up for an initial hearing on Tuesday. The same day which had been earlier scheduled for filing nominations for the March 5 House of Representatives election under the first-past-the-post system.

On Friday, January 16, the EC granted official recognition to the new central committee elected at the convention. The Deuba faction immediately rejected the decision, claiming it lacked legal and procedural validity.

Senior leaders aligned with Deuba, including Purna Bahadur Khadka, Bimalendra Nidhi, Prakash Man Singh, and Prakash Sharan Mahat, had said they will pursue both political and legal avenues to challenge the recognition.

The Thapa–Bishwa Prakash Sharma faction had held the special general convention from January 11 to 14. The faction claimed it had the support of a majority of delegates from the party’s last general convention.