KATHMANDU, FEBRUARY 17

The Election Commission has called for the registration of political parties giving them 11 days so that they could take part in the upcoming May 13 local level election.

The EC announced that parties should register within two week from today. A notice has been issued in this regard. Political parties have been asked to submit formal applications along with the sample of signatures of office bearers. The political management section at the EC is looking after the registration process.

As per the constitution and Act on Political Parties, any political party wishing to take part in the election must register with the EC. Along with formal application, the parties should the present party statute, manifesto, regulation, flag, sample of election symbol, arrangement of at least 21 central members in the central committee, and auditing reports of the previous fiscal year.

Similarly, political parties must reflect the country's diversity in their executive committee. The statute and regulation must be democratic and each office bearers of the party at the federal and provincial levels elected once in five years.

Currently, there are 119 political parties registered with the EC. Among the political parties that took part in the 2017 election, 18 parties had representation in the local level.

Although formation of parties was initiated before 1957, the Interim Statute formulated after the 1957 democratic movement provided legitimacy to parties' registration in Nepal.

It was Praja Parishad that was formed as the first political party in Nepal in 1882. The EC chronicles that Nepali Rastriya Congress was formed in 1946, Nepali Congress in 1948, Nepal Communist Party in 1949 and Gorkha Parishad in 1950.

Political parties have registered with the EC since the first general election in the country in 1958. Currently, 119 political parties are registered and are in existence.

A version of this article appears in the print on February 18, 2022, of The Himalayan Times.