A writ was filed at the Supreme Court on Tuesday demanding proportional representation of Madhesi Dalits in the provincial assemblies by creating a separate sub-group within the Dalit community.

The petition filed by eight Madhesi activists including Raxya Ram Harijan has also sought a court order to annul the Election Commission’s decision to allocate seats under the Proportional Representation (PR) system of the state assemblies.

The Directive on Provincial Assembly PR Elections guarantees a certain percentage of representation for six communities in each province based on their population but has not created any sub-group within a single community.

Clause 34 (3) of the directives makes it mandatory for the parties to select candidates only from those placed high on the list from one community.

According to the writ, the closed list of PR candidates submitted by the major parties like CPN-UML, the Nepali Congress and the CPN (Maoist Centre) have put candidates from Hill Dalit communities in the higher order within the Dalit community. “It will deprive Madhesi Dalits of representation in the provincial assemblies as they figure low on the list,” the writ claimed.