SC allows UML lawmakers Pandey, Bhatta to join CPN (Unified Socialist)

KATHMANDU: CPN-UML Parliament member Som Prasad Pandey and National Assembly member Sharada Devi Bhatta can now join the newly formed CPN (Unified Socialist) party led by Madhav Kumar Nepal.

A division bench of Justices Ishwor Prasad Khatiwada and Nahakul Subedi on Tuesday issued an interim order directing the Election Commission not to bar them from joining the CPN (Unified Socialist).

Earlier, Pandey and Bhatta had filed a writ petition after the Election Commission expressed its reluctance to recognise them as the lawmakers of the CPN (Unified Socialist) as they missed to sign the original application for registering a new party.

Now, the UML has 98 seats in the House of Representatives and 25 seats in the National Assembly.