KATHMANDU, Nov 6: Supreme Court has refused to issue interim order on a writ petition seeking the apex court order to the authorities -- the Office of the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers, Election Commission, the Ministry of Home Affairs, Ministry of Law and Justice and the Ministry of General Administration--to ensure the voting rights of the public servants and security personnel deployed on election duty.

Citing Article 84 (5) of the Constitution which has guaranteed any citizen of eighteen years and above to cast vote in any one electoral constituency, the petitioner has sought the apex court order to allow the civil servants and security personnel deployed on election duty to cast their votes for parliamentary and provincial assembly elections under the proportional representation system.  However, a division bench of Acting Chief Justice Deepak Raj Joshee and Justice Dambar Bahadur Shahi stated that the Election Commission (EC) would consider over poll staffers voting rights.

Earlier, on Sunday, the SC asked the Nepal Bar Association (NBA) and the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) to send amicus curiae to plead in the apex court regarding the writ.

Deputy attorney general Bharat Prasad Mainali had filed the writ petition on October 30 challenging the decision of the EC barring the government employees from their voting rights.  The government is holding parliamentary and provincial elections simultaneously in two phases on November 26 and December 7, in which around 500,000 government employees are deployed.

 
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