Ahead of Thursday’s vote, the Supreme Court on Tuesday issued a show cause notice to the Election Commission for annulling the candidacy of Shiva Pujan Raya Yadav, the CPN (Maoist Centre) first-past-the-post candidate for the Sarlahi-4 federal parliament seat.

Yadav had filed a writ petition at the SC on November 28, three days after the EC decided to revoke his candidacy. The EC annulled Yadav’s candidacy citing that the court had found him guilty of corruption for misusing diplomatic passport.

According to apex court officers, the SC has called election officials for a discussion on Wednesday along with a written statement in response to Yadav’s demand for staying annulment of his candidacy.

In his petition, Yadav has claimed that his case was sub judice in the Supreme Court. He also cited the House of Representatives Election Act 2017 provision that a person convicted of corruption and misuse of passport, among others, cannot be an election candidate if the hearing is final.

Yadav has demanded annulment of the EC’s decision through certiori so that he could be back in the race.