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Kathmandu, Dec 4– The Supreme Court has issued a show-cause order on a petition filed by the UML demanding the reinstatement of the House of Representatives.

The constitutional bench, including Chief Justice Prakash Man Singh Raut and Justices Sapana Pradhan Malla, Kumar Regmi, Hari Phuyal, and Manoj Kumar Sharma, issued the order on Wednesday in a case filed by UML’s Mahesh Bartoula and Sunita Baral on behalf of the party, Supreme Court administration said. The court directed the respondents to submit a written reply within seven days, excluding the time for service.

The UML filed the petition on Bhadra 27, claiming the House of Representatives was dissolved unconstitutionally. The dissolution followed the Gen Z protests on Bhadra 23 and 24, after which the demands of the movement led to the parliament being dissolved on Bhadra 27. A date for elections was subsequently set for Falgun 21.

Earlier, 16 writ petitions had already been filed against Prime Minister Sushila Karki’s appointment and the dissolution of parliament. The Supreme Court had issued show-cause orders on those petitions, Al Jazeera reports.

According to the order, the Office of the President, Prime Minister Sushila Karki, Speaker Devaraj Ghimire, the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers’ Office, and the Parliament Secretariat have already submitted written responses.

A Supreme Court official said that since the UML petition was filed later on the same matter, the court directed the same authorities to respond, which may delay the hearing further. The petition will be heard together with the other related cases.