KATHMANDU, Oct 26: The Election Commission on Friday formally registered the ruling Nepal Communist Party (NCP), rejecting Rishi Kattel’s plea that the name clashes with the name of his own party.
Kattel, who heads the Nepal Communist Party, had moved the EC demanding that the ruling communist party change its name as another party with a similar name is already in existence.
A board meeting of the EC rejected Kattel’s application and said no clash of names was involved. “Nepal Communist Party (NCP) and Nepal Communist Party are two different names,” said Election Commissioner Narendra Dahal.
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At the board meeting, the election commissioners also argued that the proposed name of the ruling communist party should not be rejected as the party has already contested elections under that name and secured an overwhelming majority.
With this conclusion, the board meeting of Chief Election Commissioner Ayodhee Prasad Yadav and commissioners Ila Sharma, Narendra Dahal and Ishwari Prasad Paudel decided to accept the ruling party’s name as proposed.
Kattel had registered his Nepal Communist Party at the EC before the Nepal Communist Party (NCP) applied for registration following announcement of the merger between the then CPN-UML and Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist Center).
The election body has rejected Kattel’s stance and accepted the Nepal Communist Party (NCP) as a new party.
Dismayed by the EC’s decision, Kattel has threatened to challenge it at the Supreme Court. “We will seek the minutes from the election body meeting and challenge the decision in court within the legally specified deadline,” Khattel told Republica.
He accused the ruling party leaders of abusing their authority to hijack his party’s name. “This has invited anarchy in our democracy. If you can just use brackets and commas to differentiate one party from another which is already in existence it will surely invite anarchy,” said Kattel.
He also said the EC will find it hard to manage the parties in the coming days if new party names pop into existence with just a little tweaking of the names of already established parties.
After the UML and the Maoists merged into one party, their bid to register the new entity at the EC was delayed due to Kattel’s staunch opposition.
