Kathmandu, March 13
The Supreme Court has issued an interim order on Tuesday, telling the Election Commission to not implement the provision of its new code of conduct that requires existing elected officials to resign if they want to contest the May 13 local elections.
A single bench of Justice Bam Kumar Shrestha issued the interim order in response to a writ petition filed by Nima Gyaljen Sherpa, the chairman of the Helambu rural municipality in Sindhupalchok.
The Supreme Court has summoned the petitioner and the commission to its next hearing that decides whether to continue the code of conduct or the interim order. The next hearing has been scheduled for coming Sunday.
The main opposition, CPN-UML, is also protesting the provision claiming the commission, under the government’s influence, imposed it because the UML has the highest number of existing office bearers at the local level.
The commission, however, is defending that the decision was made to let every candidate have equal playing fields.
