Nepal Election Commission refuses to give legitimacy to either faction of ruling NCP

The Nepal Election Commission on Sunday refused to recognise either of the factions of the Nepal Communist Party--one led by Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli and the other by Pushpa Kamal Dahal and Madhav Kumar Nepal.

The poll panel stated that both the factions have failed to follow the Political Parties Act-2017 and party statute.

"Decisions made by both the parties didn't come in line with the party's statute. As the decisions don't fall in line, we can't update the details of the Nepal Communist Party. We have notified both chairman KP Sharma Oli and Pushpa Kamal Dahal about it, making them clear that the Commission will maintain existing details of the party," Spokesperson for Election Commission Raj Kumar Shrestha confirmed.

The Nepal Communist Party which has broken into two factions, one led by caretaker Prime Minister Oli and the other faction led by Dahal and Nepal. Both the factions filed an application in the Election Commission claiming authenticity along with the election emblem--the "Sun".

The party broke into two factions on December 22, two days after Oli dissolved the lower house on 20th December, NCP-formed after a merger between then CPN-UML and CPN (Maoist Center) in May 2018, Oli and Dahal became the chairs of the party, as per the statute.

The Kathmandu Post reported that the commission concluded that decisions taken by both sides failed to follow the provisions of the party statute that was submitted to the commission.

The Election Commission decision means that even though the party has practically split, it continues to remain intact--technically and legally.

(ANI)

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