A special bench of Acting Chief Justice Damodar Prasad Sharma and justices Girish Chandra Lal and Tarka Raj Bhatta on Tuesday ruled that it was not necessary to issue a stay order as the deadline for the voter registration is already over and the defendants have yet to furnish clarifications in writing as to why the move was taken.[break]
However, the apex court has maintained that it can consider whether or not to issue an interim order as demanded by the writ petitioner after the defendants furnish clarification in writing regarding the issue.
Responding to a writ petition filed by Advocate Purna Chandra Poudel at the apex court, a single bench of justice Sushila Karki on July 15 had issued an interim order against the EC´s move and ordered the defendants to furnish clarifications within 15 days as to why the move was taken.
The EC´s deadline to register voters in the new roll with photo and biometrics had expired on July 15.
Advocate Poudel on July 10 had filed the writ petition, arguing that the EC´s step is against the Interim Constitution.
The EC had recently issued a public notice, to list the voters without citizenship certificates for the November 19 Constituent Assembly (CA) elections, on the basis of their names registered for the last CA polls.
Dubbing the notice as illegal and unconstitutional, the writ petitioner has demanded that the apex court annul the step and issue an interim order against it. The EC and the prime minister´s office are named as defendants in the writ petition.
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