Kathmandu, January 16:

With barely 10 days left for filing nominations for the upcoming municipal elections, the Election Commission (EC) is to decide the “legitimacy” of the two factions of the Rastriya Prajatantra Party (RPP) before January 25.

Both the factions have already submitted documents to the EC claiming their own legitimacy. While the Kamal Thapa-led faction submitted the documents yesterday, Rana faction went to the EC this afternoon to submit the documents. The EC on Saturday had asked both the factions to submit documents to prove their legitimacy within three days.

The uproar in RPP began after the party leadership on January 9 expelled seven central committee members, including three ministers, from the party. The Thapa-led faction then expelled party chairman Rana and elected Kamal Thapa as the new party chief during their ‘special convention’.

“Both the factions have submitted documents to the EC,” spokesperson for the EC, Tejmuni Bajracharya, told this daily, saying that the EC would take some time to “thoroughly look into” the papers before coming to a final decision. “The papers are being looked into by the legal unit of the Commission,” he said, adding that the EC would decide on the issue before January 25.

The Rana-led RPP’s assistant general secretary Khem Raj Pandit said his faction submitted required evidences to the EC to prove his party’s legitimacy. “We have clearly mentioned in the documents that the special convention conducted in New Baneswor was illegitimate,” Pandit told this daily.

Meanwhile, the Patan Appellate Court is to hear a case filed by Rana seeking court order to the EC not to recognise the Thapa-led RPP as the legitimate one.