KATHMANDU, Sept. 14 -- The Supreme Court (SC) has paved the way for CPN-UML lawmakers Som Prasad Pandey and Sharada Devi Bhatta to join the newly-formed CPN (Unified Socialist) led by Madhav Kumar Nepal.

A joint bench of justices Ishwar Prasad Khatiwada and Nahakul Subedi on Tuesday issued an interim order not to infringe upon their rights to be part of the new party.

While Pandey is a lawmaker of the House of Representatives (HoR), Bhatta is a member of the National Assembly on behalf of the UML. The two lawmakers had filed separate applications at the Election Commission (EC) to allow them to be a part of the new party on the day the Nepal-led party was registered with the election body.

However, the EC had dismissed their request. T...