The Constitutional Court has accepted for hearing the Election Commission's request for the disbandment of the Thai Raksa Chart Party (TRC) for nominating a royal princess as its candidate for prime minister.
After considering the EC's request for more than an hour on Thursday, the court announced the judges had agreed unanimously to accept the case for trial.
TRC is required to submit its defence within seven days of receiving its copy of the EC's complaint. The court scheduled the next meeting to consider the case for Feb 27.
The court did not order TRC to cease election campaigning or any other activity.
The bench denied TRC's request that it reject the EC's complaint.
Outside the court, TRC party-list candidate Ruengkrai Leekitwattana accused the EC of dereliction of duty in failing to hear the party's explanation before deciding to seek its dissolution.
The EC proposed the dissolution because it found the party had threatened the tradition of the constitutional monarchy when it nominated Princess Ubolratana as its sole prime ministerial candidate last Friday.
His Majesty the King issued a royal command disapproving of the nomination on Friday night, saying that although she chose to be a commoner the princess was a still member of the royal family and should remain outside politics. The attempt to involve her was very inappropriate.
The EC rejected the nomination on Monday.
