Top leaders of the Nepali Congress, including President Sher Bahadur Deuba, have not signed the petition in favor of restoring the House of Representatives.
Eight outgoing NC lawmakers including chief whip Shyam Kumar Ghimire and whip Sushila Thing have filed a writ petition in the Supreme Court seeking the restoration of the House.
Other lawmakers from the party have also added their signatures to be recognized as parties to the same petition.
According to a source at the NC parliamentary party office, 66 out of the 88 outgoing NC lawmakers had signed the document by Sunday afternoon.
However, President Sher Bahadur Deuba, Acting President Purna Bahadur Khadka, General Secretaries Gagan Thapa and Bishwa Prakash Sharma, and leader Shekhar Koirala, along with some other outgoing lawmakers, have not signed the petition.
"Top leaders, including the president, acting president, and general secretaries, who are also outgoing lawmakers, have not signed," said the source at the parliamentary party office. "The signing process is still ongoing, but it is unlikely that the top leaders will sign."
At its recent central committee meeting, the NC decided to participate in the House of Representatives elections scheduled for March 5, 2026.
Before that, while the central committee meeting was still underway, signatures were collected for the restoration of the House under the leadership of outgoing chief whip Ghimire.
Forty-five lawmakers had already signed in favor of House reinstatement at the time, when party President Deuba was in Singapore for medical treatment. However, the process was halted after Acting President Khadka instructed Ghimire to stop the signature collection.
