The Appellate Court of Lalitpur on Monday has refused to issue interim order as demanded by the Rastriya Prajatantra Party (RPP) and has instead asked the Election Commission (EC) to settle the row.

A division bench– comprising Chief Judge at the Appellate Court, Rana Bahadur Bam, and Judge Durga Pasad Upreti– held that since the issue fell under the jurisdiction of the EC and the EC was yet to deliver its verdict, there was no need to issue interim order as demanded by the RPP.

In a writ petition filed at the Appellate Court, chairman Rana and 20 central committee members of the RPP had demanded that the court asks the EC not to issue the party’s election symbol ‘plough’ and flag to the dissident group led by Home Minister Kamal Thapa.

The dissident faction, in a ‘special general convention’ of the party organized in the capital early this month, announced that Rana had been deposed from the party’s top post and that Home Minister Thapa had been ‘elected’ its new chairman.

Rana, however, dismisses the entire exercise as a farce and against the statute of the party.

Both the Rana and Thapa factions have made their claims on the party’s flag and election symbol at the EC. The EC is expected to start hearings on the issue soon.