If Labour’s ruling body had agreed, Mr Corbyn might have found himself excluded from the contest – effectively sacked as leader – because he would be unlikely to find enough MPs willing to support him.
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Elsewhere, Lord Collins, who helped write the current Labour rules, said all candidates – including the leader – must “meet the test of eligibility” by securing the nominations.
Corbynistas – says it is his fans that elected him that count and not the bulk of his elected members of parliament who want to topple him.
The National Executive Committee this evening voted 18-14 in favour of Mr Corbyn’s name appearing on the ballot paper.
Owen Smith, who quit as shadow work and pensions secretary from Corbyns shadow cabinet last month, joins Angela Eagle in a bid to oust the leader who has become increasingly unpopular within the party ranks.
Labour MPs have staged a revolt against Mr Corbyn but his allies believe that he will be re-elected by the supporters who swept him to victory past year.
Corbyn said the incident was “extremely concerning” and, as someone who has himself received death threats in recent weeks, condemned the threatening behavior.
While a growing number of MPs oppose Corbyn, he commands the popular support of party members and supporters.
And the increase was seen by some as an attempt to make it harder for supporters of Mr Corbyn to take part. “And I am determined to win it”, on Twitter.
BBC News reports that there is a dispute within the party over whether Jeremy Corbyn should be automatically allowed on the ballot in the upcoming leadership election.
He appeared in a list of possible candidates to replace outgoing leader Ed Miliband following Labour’s second successive general election defeat past year.
If the NEC decides he is not automatically on the ballot, Corbyn has said he will mount a legal challenge.
Labour is engulfed in a bitter internal power struggle between Corbyn’s supporters in the grassroots membership and the party’s lawmakers, who overwhelmingly rejected his leadership after Britain’s vote to leave the European Union last month.
However, on Wednesday morning Mr McDonnell told Sky News that the attack on Ms Eagle was “scandalous” and that anyone inside the Labour party indulging in such behaviour would be “straight out”.
“We alone can hold this right wing Tory (Conservative) government to account and then replace it by winning a general election”, Eagle said.
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Eagle ordered Jeremy Corbyn to “get control” of his supporters after his “ritual” response to an attack on her office was savaged.
