The Supreme Court has refused to issue an interim order on the writ seeking separate ballot papers for federal and provincial polls.

A division bench of Justices Deepak Raj Joshi and Purusottam Bhandari said it was meaningless to speak about interim order on ballot papers as the Election Commission  (EC) has already started printing the ballot papers for the proportional representation system. Rastriya Janata Party-Nepal (RNPN) leader Sarbendra Nath Shukla on October 8 had moved the apex court demanding separate ballot papers for federal and provincial polls. 

The apex court decision has put an end to the confusion regarding the ballot paper.

The EC has been preparing for the two polls with two sets of ballot papers—one for the first-past-the-post system and another for the proportional representation system. The SC heard the case on Tuesday.