Kathmandu, November 1

The Supreme Court refused to issue interim orders to the Election Commission and the government in response to three writ petitions filed against the EC’s decision to print single sheet of ballot papers for provincial and parliamentary elections under the proportional representation electoral system.

Hearing the cases filed by advocates Sitaram Agrawal and Sunil Kumar Patel, a single bench of Justice Ananda Mohan Bhattarai said that if at a time when  the country had been celebrating the electoral process  a situation was created to prevent elections on mere  grounds of some minor legal and practical reasons, that would not be in favour of democracy.

“The issues of reforms in the legal system, electoral process and the system which the petitioners have raised will be addressed in the final hearing. Therefore, the court refuses to issue interim orders, keeping in mind the balance of convenience,” the bench stated in its order.

The bench also observed that the  SC while hearing the case filed by Rastriya Janata Party-Nepal leader Sarvendranath Shukla  had refused to issue an interim order against the EC’s decision to print single sheet of PR ballot papers.

The bench also stated that the election laws had not barred the EC from printing more symbols than the number of parties contesting the elections. The bench also said that it would be wrong to judge that the voters would be deprived of their rights just because there are more symbols than the number of parties in the

poll fray.

Advocate Sitaram Agrawal had filed two writ petitions at the Supreme Court demanding annulment of proportional representation ballot papers that the poll panel has already printed.

Advocate Patel had demanded that there should be separate PR ballot papers for both provincial and parliamentary elections.

The EC, which had planned to print single sheet of ballot papers for both provincial and parliamentary first-past-the-post elections eventually decided to print separate ballot papers after the SC ordered for the same a few days ago.