KATHMANDU: In its formal hearing on its bench the Janata Samajbadi Party (JSP) dispute, the Election Commission (EC) has ordered both factions of the party to submit the original documents to support their claims over the party by July 20.
“We are not in favor of keeping this issue for long. We will reach a decision after studying the original documents of both factions and hearing the arguments of the legal practitioners of both the factions,” Ishwori Poudel, a commissioner at the EC said on Sunday.
Earlier, the EC had held discussions with both the faction to resolve the dispute to determine the authenticity as per Article 44 of the Political Parties Act. According to the Act, both sides will be able to hold a debate in the session with the legal practitioners to claim authenticity.
Leaders, including Baburam Bhattarai, Ashok Rai, Mahendra Raya Yadav and Rajendra Shrestha, are on one side while Chairman Mahanta Thakur, senior leaders Rajendra Mahato, Sarad Singh Bhandari and Laxman Lal Karna are on the other side.
The faction led by Yadav had decided to oppose the move of the outgoing Prime Minister KP Oli and supported Sher Bahadur Deuba as the prime minister.
The Thakur faction had meanwhile supported outgoing PM Oli’s move.
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