Hearing on Bharatpur vote count deferred until Monday

KATHMANDU, July 7: Hearing on Bharatpur vote counting dispute was postponed until Monday as the Supreme Court failed to conclude the hearing today.

A joint bench of justices Mira Khadka and Anil Kumar Sinha responded to the writ in relation to the issue filed by advocate Tulasi Pandey and CPN-UML candidate for Bharatpur Metropolitan City-19 Gunjan Man BK. The writ is against the Election Commission’s decision to hold re-elections in the metropolis-19 after the vote counting halted following the tearing of ballot papers during the vote count.

Earlier, a joint bench of acting Chief Justice Gopal Prasad Parajuli and Justice Hari Krishna Karki heard the issue and delivered a verdict asking for bringing torn up ballot papers.

Acting on the verdict, the torn ballot papers were presented before the Court on June 27.

Likewise, the first round of the hearing conducted by a single bench of Justice Cholendra Shamsher Junga Bahadur Rana also issued a verdict against the EC’s direction to organise re-polls in the metropolis. RSS