The Supreme Court has issued an interlocutory interim order against the Election Commission not to take action against the ‘No Not Again’ campaign members.

The commission on October 25 had issued a statement warning the campaign to remove social media posts containing photographs of prominent leaders and take down the campaign’s Facebook page or face a five-year jail and Rs100,000 fine as per Article 47 of the Electronic Transaction Act.

On October 31, senior advocate Dinesh Tripathi had moved the apex court and filed a writ petition against the commission’s diktat.

Acting on Tripathi’s petition, a single bench of justice Hari Prasad Phuyal on Sunday issued the order.

Reacting to the order, Tripathi said the Election Commission’s notice against the 'No Not Again' campaign prevents the public from exercising their democratic rights and hampers free and fair elections.

“Any citizen has the right to campaign for or against a candidate but the commission’s move has attacked the essence and spirit of democracy and the constitution,” said Tripathi.

The commission’s statement had come following posts on social media including various Facebook groups and pages and on Twitter with the primary theme, “No, Not Again,” calling on voters to reject certain politicians in the upcoming elections, particularly those who have become prime minister at least once.

In the posts, the groups targeted mainly veteran politicians including incumbent Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba, CPN-UML Chairman KP Sharma Oli, CPN (Maoist Centre) chair Puspa Kamal Dahal, CPN (Unified Socialist) chief Madhav Kumar Nepal and the party’s senior leader former prime minister Jhalanath Khanal; and Nepal Samajbadi Party chief and former prime minister Baburam Bhattarai, who is not contesting the upcoming elections.