The four leaders who moved the Supreme Court (SC) against expulsion from the House by CPN (Maoist Center) after joining CPN-UML have applied for stopping hearing of their petition.
Their petition was assigned to the bench of Justice Ananda Mohan Bhattarai on Friday but they applied for stopping hearing, according to SC Spokesperson Baburam Dahal. "One bench had earlier not found time to hear this case. It was assigned to the bench of Justice Ananda Mohan Bhattarai today. But the petitioners stopped it themselves," Dahal said.
Top Bahadur Rayamajhi, Lekh Raj Bhatta, Gauri Shankar Chaudhary and Prabhu Sah moved the Apex Court on Wednesday demanding they be allowed to remain lawmakers. The case was assigned to the bench of Justice Deepak Kumar Karki but was not heard due to lack of time.
The four leaders have claimed they have not quit the Maoist party and pointed that the details provided by the Election Commission on July 7 listed them as Maoist members.
They also argued that the unilateral decision of Maoist Center Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal, who was authorized by the central committee to take a call on their expulsion, to expel them is unconstitutional.
The four had decided to join CPN-UML after the SC invalidated the unification of Maoist Center and UML on March 7. KP Sharma Oli had even made them ministers.
