KATHMANDU, NOVEMBER 1

The Supreme Court today stayed the Election Commission's decision to cancel Toshima Karki's candidacy for the election to the House of Representatives from Constituency No 3 of Lalitpur.

On October 29, the EC had cancelled Karki's candidacy arguing that she had received meeting and travel allowance from the Nepal Medical Council which amounted to holding public post. Karki is an executive member of the Nepal Medical Council.

The House of Representatives Elections Act bars public post holders from contesting parliamentary elections.

A single bench of Justice Kumar Chudal issued the interim order in response to a writ petition filed by Karki. The bench also issued a show cause notice to defendants asking them to submit written replies within 15 days.

The apex court issued the interim order citing the possible irreparable damage that the EC decision could cause to the petitioner.

The bench also stated that balance of convenience favoured issuing of the interim order.

Karki had received Rs 136,500 from the NMC as travel allowance between April 22 and August 18.

The EC had invoked Section 2 (d) of the Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority Act-1991 to deem Karki's post a public post.

Senior Advocates Surendra Bhandari and Dinesh Tripathi and advocates Lalit Basnet, Bhimarjun Acharya, Om Prakash Aryal, Gokul Bhandari, and Madhukumar Chaulagain pleaded on behalf of the petitioner.

A version of this article appears in the print on November 2, 2022 of The Himalayan Times.