The Supreme Court (SC) will conduct hearing on both the petitions registered by Janata Samajwadi Party (JSP) Chairman Mahantha Thakur against the Election Commission together.
The bench of Justice Prakash Singh Raut has decided to conduct hearing on both the petitions together and summoned both the sides to decide whether to issue an interim order or not, according to SC Spokesperson Baburam Dahal.
Thakur had first moved the Apex Court to stop the Election Commission from verifying signatures to decide on the claims of two rival factions for official recognition. The SC did not issue the interim order to stop verification of signatures and the Election Commission subsequently granted official recognition to the Yadav-Bhattarai faction.
Thakur again moved the SC demanding interim order to revoke that decision. Conducting hearing on the latest petition, the bench of Justice Raut decided to conduct hearing on both the petitions together and summoned both the sides to decide whether to issue an interim order or not.
The Election Commission had granted official recognition to Yadav-Bhattarai faction after an overwhelming majority of the party's executive members pledged allegiance to the faction during the headcounting.
A whopping 34 executive members out of 51 pledged allegiance to Yadav-Bhattarai faction while just 16 stood for the rival Thakur-Mahato faction during the headcounting. Resham Chaudhary, who was brought to the Election Commission from the Dilli Bazar Jail, chose to remain neutral.
