Leaders close to the outgoing Acting President of Nepali Congress (NC) Purna Bahadur Khadka have stated that he was not in favor of going to the Supreme Court (SC) against the decision of Election Commission.
It was only due to the insistence of outgoing NC President Sher Bahadur Deuba that his group filed a writ petition at the SC. "Purna Bahadur Dai clearly emphasized many times that we should not go to the court, but Deuba and some leaders close to him insisted on it," one leader said.
Alongside Khadka, leaders including Ramesh Lekhak and Shyam Kumar Ghimire were also of the opinion that they should not go to court. But Khadka took a particularly strong stance against legal action.
"We can move forward by expanding the Central Committee that emerged from the Special General Convention. Let's talk about that instead. There was also the view that the central committees of communist parties are also large," another leader mentioned.
Now that a case has been filed against the Central Committee formed by the Special General Convention against his wishes, Khadka has expressed to his group that it is not morally appropriate for him to contest the upcoming election.
The case was filed in the names of Deuba and Khadka through a power of attorney.
The leader also informed that although Khadka will not contest the election himself, he has told others to unite, contest the election from the party, and speak with the newly elected Gagan Thapa-led Central Committee on their own terms.
Even though Khadka said they should not go to court, Deuba insisted they must go and obtain an interim order. "After that, despite being unhappy, Purna Bahadur Dai went to court," the leader said.
Deuba's faction has gone to the SC with a writ petition protesting the Election Commission's recognition of the Central Committee formed by the Special General Convention.
The registration of candidacies for the House of Representatives election scheduled for March 5 is set for Tuesday.
NC is finalizing candidates through a meeting of the parliamentary board. Leaders have indicated that there are preparations to provide tickets to leaders close to outgoing NC President Deuba as well.
However, the possibility of Deuba himself receiving a ticket is slim.
