Nepal's top court asks EC not to take action against campaigners targeting top politicians ahead of polls

Nepals Supreme Court on Thursday asked the countrys top election body not to take any action against No, not again campaigners who have launched a drive calling on voters to reject top politicians in the upcoming elections, particularly those who have become prime minister at least once.

Nepal's Supreme Court on Thursday asked the country's top election body not to take any action against ''No, not again'' campaigners who have launched a drive calling on voters to reject top politicians in the upcoming elections, particularly those who have become prime minister at least once. The apex court issued a full-fledged interim order till the final disposal of the case related to the 'No-not-again' campaign in response to the writ petition filed by senior advocate Dinesh Tripathi.

A joint bench of the apex court on Thursday continued an earlier stay order issued by a single bench of Justice Hari Prasad Phuyal. The joint bench comprised Justices Sapana Pradhan Malla and Susma Lata Mathema.

The Election Commission of Nepal on October 25 issued a statement warning the campaign to remove social media posts containing photographs of prominent leaders and take down the campaign’s Facebook page or face a five-year jail and a Rs 100,000 fine.

On October 31, senior advocate Tripathi moved the apex court and filed a writ petition against the commission’s diktat.

Nepal is going for parliamentary and provincial level elections in a single phase on November 20.

The ''No not again'' campaign has been launched by a group of youths, who have asked people not to vote for incumbent and former prime ministers including Prime Minister and Nepali Congress president Sher Bahadur Deuba, CPN-UML chairman K P Sharma Oli, CPN-Unified Socialist chairman Madhav Kumar Nepal, CPN-Maoist Centre chairman Pushpakamal Dahal ''Prachanda,'' senior leader of CPN-Unified Socialist Jhalanath Khanal and senior leftist leader Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai.

''Repeating the same old persons, who have failed to deliver to the people, in the Parliamentary election will deprive other qualified people of getting elected,'' argued the campaigners. The petitioner argued that the notification issued by the Election Commission violates the freedom of speech and expression as guaranteed by Article 17(2)A of the Nepalese Constitution.

Now with this interim order, the people involved in the No-not again campaign could not be arrested on the ground and no punitive action could be taken against the campaigners.