KATHMANDU, Jan 25: The Dahal-Nepal faction of the ruling Nepal Communist Party has termed the Election Commission's decision not to give official recognition to either of the factions of the Nepal Communist Party (NCP) ambiguous.

Speaking at a press conference organized at Parisdanda in the capital to unveil the faction's third phase of agitation against the dissolution of parliament, Narayan Kaji Shrestha, spokesperson for the faction, said that a constitutional body like the Election Commission is not supposed to make ambiguous decisions.

"The Election Commission should not make such decisions that create a dilemma," Shrestha said.

He also said that the party faction will make its opinion public on the recent decision of the poll body not to give official recognition to either of the factions of the NCP once it is informed by the commission in writing.

"We are sure that the Election Commission will officially recognize us as the legitimate NCP," Shrestha said.

On Sunday, the poll body refused to give legitimacy to either of the factions of the NCP–one led by Prime Minister KP Oli and the other by Pushpa Kamal Dahal and Madhav Kumar Nepal.

A meeting of the EC's office bearers concluded that both factions of the NCP failed to follow the Political Parties Act-2017 and the party statute.

Earlier, the Dahal faction of the NCP had reached to the EC, demanding that they be recognized as the official NCP. The faction claimed that they should be recognized as the legitimate NCP as they command the majority in the party's Secretariat, Standing Committee, and Central Committee.

EC officials said it is difficult to bring any amendments, changes, or reshuffle the record as demanded by both the factions of the NCP as per the party's statute. The EC has informed both the NCP factions that the details submitted to them after the unification between the erstwhile CPN (Maoist Center) and CPN-UML remain unchanged.

With the latest decision of the EC, Oli and Dahal remain the chairpersons, while Bishnu Paudel serves as the party's General Secretary, at least in paper. The Dahal-led faction had earlier removed Oli from the post of Chairman and picked Madhav Kumar Nepal in his place. The faction on Sunday decided to strip Oli of even the party's general membership.

However, the Oli faction has not removed Dahal from the post of party chairman yet. With the decision of the Election Commission (EC), the decision of the Dahal-led faction to pick leader Nepal as the party's co-chairperson has become invalid.

The ruling NCP saw a vertical split across the party's committees after Prime Minister Oli decided to dissolve the House of Representatives and announced midterm elections for April 30 and May 10. Both Oli and Dahal factions have been holding mass gatherings to show their strength across the country after House dissolution. 

 
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