Supreme Court denies interim relief to RSP’s Kishori Sah

The Supreme Court on Sunday refused to issue an interim order in a petition filed by Kishori Sah, a candidate from the Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP), challenging the cancellation of his candidacy in Dhanusha District Constituency-1 by the Election Commission (EC).

A joint bench of justices Binod Sharma and Meghraj Pokharel declined to grant the interim relief sought by Sah, who had asked the court to suspend the EC decision and reinstate his candidacy.

The petition had argued that the EC’s decision to invalidate his nomination was unlawful and requested the court to ensure that his candidacy remained valid.

With the court’s refusal to issue an interim order, the EC’s decision to scrap Sah’s candidacy effectively remains in force for now.

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While the bench did not immediately issue a detailed order explaining its reasoning, the refusal of interim relief means the EC’s ruling will continue to stand unless overturned through further judicial proceedings as the case moves forward. The court now has three options, i) uphold the EC’s decision, ii) declare Sah as the winner from the constituency since his party secured the largest votes in the constituency even when Sah’s candidacy was annulled, or iii) order EC to conduct reelection.

EC has already declared Nepali Communist Party’s Matrika Prasad Yadav as the winner from the constituency.