Kathmandu: A single bench of Justice Ishwor Khatiwada has been assigned to hear a writ petition filed by four former CPN (Maoist Center) leaders demanding to reinstate them as lawmakers.
Though the case was assigned to a single bench of Justice Ananda Mohan Bhattarai on Friday, the hearing was adjourned as per the request from the petitioners’ lawyer. Earlier, the case was scheduled to be heard on Thursday but the hearing couldn’t take place due to ‘lack of time’.
Four leaders who were expelled from the CPN (Maoist Center) for abandoning the party to join the opposition CPN-UML had sought the help of the Supreme Court to reinstate their membership of the House of Representatives. After being expelled from the party’s membership, they lost their seat in the lower house of Parliament.
Leaders Lekhraj Bhatta, Top Bahadur Rayamajhi, Prabhu Shah and Gauri Shanker Chaudhary had filed a writ petition at the apex court on Wednesday. They have demanded a mandamus and certiorari order as per Article 133 (2) and (3) of the Constitution to reinstate their membership of the Parliament.
The CPN (Maoist Center) and its Chair Prachanda, the Election Commission and Federal Parliament Secretariat have been named as defendants in the petition.
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