Krishna Man Pradhan, the proposed election commissioner, has withdrawn his name from the appointment process following the allegation of sexual abuse against him became a serious public issue.

Pradhan notified the parliamentary hearing committee in writing that he wanted to withdraw his name from the process, just hours before the committee was holding its meeting to take a decision on his nomination.

The committee meeting scheduled for 11 am was deferred for 5 pm after Pradhan initiated the withdrawal process.

Ekram Giri, the spokesperson at the secretariat of the federal parliament, said that the letter would be presented at the committee meeting to decide on the issue.

According to high-level sources, Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli and Nepali Congress President Sher Bahadur Deuba had discussed the subject on Sunday and concluded that Pradhan's name could not be taken ahead.

Last week, the committee had deferred the decision on Pradhan's name saying that further discussion was needed on the allegations against him.

Pradhan, who sensed the possibility of being rejected by the committee, opted to call off his name from the process before being disqualified.

"As I have no enthusiasm for executing the duties in the proposed position, I withdraw my name for the recommended post now," Pradhan said in the letter submitted to the parliament secretariat.

The meeting of the Constitutional Council on June 16 had recommended Pradhan for the post of election commissioner.

The Council’s decision to nominate Pradhan for the constitutional body courted controversy after a woman filed a complaint at the hearing committee accusing Pradhan of sexually abusing her for years. The woman, who was invited to a committee meeting, also narrated the issue in detail to the committee members.

The committee’s meeting on Wednesday ended inconclusively, citing that further discussion was needed on the allegations against the proposed commissioner.

During the hearing, cross-party lawmakers asked Pradhan how he would defend the serious allegations of sexual abuse and whether he was morally corrupt. Most members of the 15-strong committee had asked him how he was eligible to hold the constitutional position despite the serious allegations.