Kathmandu, April 18: The Supreme Court (SC) of Nepal has upheld the legitimacy of Gagan Thapa’s leadership of the Nepali Congress (NC), citing three key reasons.
In its brief order, the Court stated that the information submitted to the Election Commission Nepal regarding disciplinary action against party office bearers cannot be treated as a formal complaint.
It further noted that since the Congress faction led by Gagan Thapa participated in the parliamentary elections, the leadership has already acquired political legitimacy. The order added that the Election Commission Nepal made its decision based on the documents received and in accordance with the law, and therefore there is no ground for judicial interference.
The Court issued its decision while hearing a writ petition filed by the faction of Sher Bahadur Deuba challenging the Commission’s decision.
According to the brief order, the Court held that the complaint submitted by the Deuba faction regarding disciplinary action, as well as the petition related to calling a special general convention, cannot be recognized as valid complaints under Sections 43 and 44 of the Political Parties Act. As a result, the disciplinary action cannot be upheld.
The order also stated that after the update of central office bearers, the federal parliamentary elections held on March 5 (Falgun 21) under the signature of Gagan Thapa have already conferred political legitimacy on his leadership.
It observed that once candidates were nominated and elections conducted for the House of Representatives, the situation had materially changed, rendering the call for a special general convention irrelevant.
The Court further concluded that since the Election Commission Nepal carried out all its actions on a legal basis, there was no justification for intervention on behalf of the petitioners.
People’s News Monitoring Service
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