On Tuesday, the UML registered its party with the Election Commission to participate in the House of Representatives elections, while on the other hand, it filed a writ petition with the Supreme Court demanding the restoration of the dissolved House of Representatives. UML is the 66th party to register with the commission to participate in the House of Representatives elections announced for 21 Falgun. Earlier, most parties including the Congress, NCP, Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), and JSP have registered. As of Tuesday, a day before the end of the party registration period, 80 parties have registered. Only 14 parties from the dissolved House of Representatives have registered for the elections.

The UML has prioritized the demand for the restoration of the House of Representatives, saying that the government is trying to take political revenge on the parties and has not moved forward on the path to creating an environment for elections, so the elections cannot be held on the scheduled date. UML leaders including Chairman KP Sharma Oli, General Secretary Shankar Pokharel have been saying that the UML is not a party that will run away from the elections, but since the situation is such that the elections cannot be held, the restoration of the House of Representatives is the only option.

UML Standing Committee member and senior advocate Agni Kharel said that since the UML believes in the constitution, rule of law and democracy, there is no objection to going to the elections. But he said that since the government has not moved forward on the path to holding the elections, the restoration of the parliament is the only option to bring the constitution back on track.

‘UML believes in the constitution, law and democracy. When there is a situation where elections are held, we have no objection, we are clear that we will go to the elections.’ But I don't think that the election is happening, the government is not creating an environment for the election,' he said, 'If the government is not going to hold the election, there will be no election. Could it be that there will be no election, there will be no parliament? UML did not go to file a case the day after the dissolution of the parliament. After about two and a half months, we have gone to the Supreme Court saying that the dissolution of the House of Representatives was unconstitutional. There will be no election, there will be no parliament. Now there is no situation for the election, so the parliament will be revived.'

He said that an environment of trust has not been created because the government has not had any dialogue with the top leaders of the major parties. 'The Prime Minister has not spoken to the top leaders of the major parties about the election till date. Will there be an election like this?' is his question.

Kharel, citing the situation where there will be no election, said that the previous Supreme Court verdict would be appealed for the restoration of the House of Representatives. 'If there is no election, the House of Representatives will be dissolved unconstitutionally,' he said.

UML Election Department Chief Neeraj Acharya said that the party has been registered with the Commission as per the schedule of the Election Commission. 'We have registered the party for the House of Representatives and National Assembly elections put forward by the Election Commission,' he said, 'We will keep the party updated as per the law.'

UML has already instructed all the party committees in all municipalities, districts and Kathmandu Valley to hold 'awakening meetings' to keep the organization ready for the elections. Election activities have been intensified up to the local level. New voters have been instructed to register and organizations have been instructed to take cases to the voters to build a 'national decisive force.'

On Tuesday, Mahesh Bartaula and Sunita Baral, the chief whip of the dissolved House of Representatives parliamentary party, filed a writ petition demanding the restoration of the parliament. The UML secretariat meeting held last week had decided to file a writ petition in the Supreme Court on behalf of the party. "A writ petition demanding the restoration of the unconstitutionally dissolved House of Representatives has been submitted to the esteemed Supreme Court today on behalf of the UML parliamentary party (unconstitutionally dissolved House of Representatives)," Bartoula said.

The writ claims that the appointment of Prime Minister Sushil Karki is unconstitutional. The writ petition states, "Since the appointment of Prime Minister Sushila Karki, who is not a member of the House of Representatives, has been the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, has not been supported by the parliamentary party of any party, and has been appointed unconstitutionally in violation of Article 76 and Article 132(2), is prima facie unconstitutional, an order may be issued against her appointment as Prime Minister." The writ petition states, "After the appointment of the opposition Prime Minister, all illegal and unconstitutional activities, decisions, and appointments made by the opposition parties should be annulled by an order of incitement."

The UML has demanded in the writ petition that the decision to dissolve the House of Representatives made by the President on 27 Bhadra on the recommendation of Prime Minister Karki be annulled. "Since the election of the House of Representatives to be held by the unconstitutionally appointed Prime Minister Sushila Karki and the government led by her will automatically be irrelevant after the restoration of the House of Representatives, an order prohibiting all activities related to the election of the House of Representatives should be issued and stopped," the UML has said.