Nepal’s Election Commission has refused to recognise any of the two factions of the ruling Nepal Communist Party (NCP) as the official party, saying both failed to adopt due procedures to gain the legitimate status.

The commission in its decision on Sunday stated that since both the groups — one led by Pushpa Kamal Dahal, alias Prachanda, and other by Prime Minister K.P. Sharma Oli — failed to adopt due procedures, they would not gain any recognition.

With the commission’s decision, Oli and Prachanda remain the chairpersons despite a vertical split in the party.

The Prachanda-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.

The Prachanda-led faction claimed that they should be recognised as the official 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 in the record as demanded by both factions of the NCP as per the party’s statute.

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 mid-term elections for April 30 and May 10.

US meeting

The US ambassador to Nepal, Randy Berry, on Monday met Prachanda to discuss the
priorities of the new Biden administration, including strengthening of democracies and climate change.