EC not to register CPN-UML Socialist, JSP-N (Loktantrik) under same name

KATHMANDU: The Election Commission has decided not to register the party CPN-UML Socialist and Janata Samajbadi Party-Nepal (Loktantrik) under the same name.

Madhav Kumar Nepal along with other leaders of his faction on August 18 filed an application at the Election Commission to register a new party, CPN-UML Socialist. Similarly, the Mahantha Thakur-Rajendra Mahato faction of the Janata Samajbadi Party-Nepal also applied for registration at the Election Commission seeking a new party, Janata Samajbadi Party-Nepal (Loktantrik).

According to a source, the Election Commission has urged the CPN-UML Socialist Chairman Madhav Kumar Nepal and Janata Samajbadi Party-Nepal (Loktantrik) Chairman Mahantha Thakur to come up with another names.

“We have already asked them to come up with another party names which do not match with others,” an official of the Election Commission said, adding, “The Supreme Court on March 7, 2021, based on the Act related to political parties, urged the poll body not to  register a new party with the same name if a party already exists with the EC.”

The Act related to political parties has provisioned that a new party with the same name cannot be registered if a party is already registered with same name and same election symbol.

The Supreme Court on March 7 had dismissed the then Communist Party of Nepal (CPN) and revived the CPN-UML and the CPN-Maoists Centre based on the same Act.

Earlier, Nepal Press had published the news with facts that the CPN-UML Socialist and Janata Samajbadi Party-Nepal (Loktantrik) could not be registered under the same same.

According to a senior official of the Election Commission, Rajendra Pandey has been informed to come up with another name instead of CPN-UML Socialist.

Similarly, Janata Samajbadi Party-Nepal leaders have also been asked to come up with another party name.

At present, Madhav Nepal and the leaders of his faction are holding a meeting after the Election Commission asked them to come up with another party name.