The delay will allow two warring candidates — each backed by different factions within the Labor Party — to battle it out in court.

Federal Court Justice Richard Tracey this afternoon granted a two-week halt to proceedings in the elections for a new leadership team to head the HSU No 1 branch in Victoria.

The election was to begin on the first Monday in November.

Ballots for the election were to be posted on November 5, and members given until November 23 to cast their vote. There are 12,100 Victorian health workers who belong to the beleaguered union.

The Australian Electoral Commission is running the election, and it had rejected a nomination from former Darebin Council mayor Diana Asmar, who it argued had not been a financial member for long enough to stand.

Ms Asmar went to the Federal Court seeking a delay to the election so she could argue that she had in fact been barred from paying her union dues by those who controlled the union before it was put into administration in June.

These include former national secretary Kathy Jackson, and her former deputy general secretary Marco Bolano. Mr Bolano is running against Ms Asmar, along with two others.

Ms Asmar is supported by a right-wing Labor grouping whose members include federal ministers Stephen Conroy and Bill Shorten. Mr Bolano has close links to Senator David Feeney, Australia's Parliamentary Secretary for Defence.

Lawyers for Ms Asmar, Mr Bolano and the Australian Electoral Commission appeared before the court this afternoon.