The Office of the Election Officer in New Baneshwar on Sunday decided to retain the candidacy of Ram Sahay Prasad Yadav, a vice-presidential candidate from the Janata Samajbadi Party.

It has been decided to quash two complaints lodged against Yadav, concluding that legal provisions don’t require the President and the Vice President to be from a different gender, said Mahesh Sharma Poudel, election officer.

UML lawmaker Mahesh Bartaula, who had seconded the candidacy by the party’s official candidate Asta Laxmi Shakya, and Mamata Jha, a vice-presidential candidate from the Janamat Party, had lodged complainst with the Office of the Election Officer against Yadav.

They had claimed that the nomination of a male candidate can’t be registered for the Vice President as a male has been already elected the President.

On Friday, the Election Commission issued a statement that said only women candidates from communities other than Khas-Arya would be registered for the vice-presidential election.

Chief Election Commissioner Dinesh Thapaliya had said that the election body will register the candidacy of only female candidates from Dalit, Indigenous Nationalities, Muslim, Madheshi or Tharu communities.

Article 70 of the constitution states that “election to the President and the Vice President under this constitution shall be so made as to have representation of different sex or community.”

A total of four candidates—three from the ruling alliance and one from the UML— have registered their nominations for the vice-presidential election.

The Election Commission has scheduled the vice-presidential election for March 17.