KATHMANDU: The Supreme Court has issued an interim order in the name of the Election Commission not to implement the decision to remove the name of the LGBTIQ+ persons from the closed list of the proportional representation (PR) system of the November 20 elections.

A single bench of Judge Dr Anand Mohan Bhattarai issued the interim order today asking the Commission not to implement its decision to remove the sexual minorities from the list.

The EC had removed the names of 37 candidates, including 17 for the House of Representatives and 20 for the Provincial Assembly, whose gender identity were named differently in the closed list and in their respective citizenship certificate.

CPN (Unified Samajwadi) Party had listed Dilu Buduja, who has obtained citizenship with a third gender identity, in the party’s PR closed list of candidates.

The party filed a writ petition in the Supreme Court against the Commission’s decision to remove the name of Buduja from the PR list.

In the writ petition, an interim order was sought to stop the implementation of the Commission’s decision, arguing that the decision to remove the candidature from the closed list was against the principles of natural justice.