KATHMANDU, AUGUST 25
The Election Commission has registered and certified both the breakaway factions of the CPN-UML and Janata Samajbadi Party-Nepal. The two new parties have now been recognised as CPN (Unified Socialist) and Democratic Socialist Party-Nepal respectively.
Earlier in the day, lawmakers and Central Committee members who had signed the petition to split their party and register a new party – CPN (Unified Socialist) under Madhav Kumar Nepal, had appeared before the Election Commission and verified their signatures.
Similarly, lawmakers and Executive Committee members of JSP-N, who had signed the petition to split their party and register a new party – Democratic Socialist Party-Nepal, under Mahanatha Thakur, appeared before the polls panel and verified their signatures.
Fifty-five Central Committee members, and 30 lawmakers, including seven National Assembly members of the CPN-UML had verified their signatures.
Although the CPN-UML had 203 members in the Central Committee before it merged with the CPN-MC in 2018, the establishment faction of the party claimed it had 260 members. The party has 121 members in the House of Representatives.
Senior leader Jhalanath Khanal, who is recuperating from kidney illness in New Delhi, virtually verified his signature from New Delhi.
According to Election Commission Spokesperson Raj Kumar Shrestha, those lawmakers that were also Central Committee members, have signed as both lawmakers and Central Committee members.
Pradeep Nepal also sided with the new party CPN (US) led by Madhav Kumar Nepal.
Seventeen Executive Committee members of JSP-N and 14 lawmakers, including one National Assembly member, verified their signatures.
The JSP-N originally had 51 members in the Executive Committee.
The JSP-N has 34 lawmakers in the HoR, of which two have been suspended.
A version of this article appears in the print on August 26 2021, of The Himalayan Times.
