By A Staff Reporter
Kathmandu, Dec. 24: A faction of Nepal Communist Party (NCP) led by its chairmen Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’ and Madhav Kumar Nepal on Wednesday submitted a letter to the Election Commission (EC), Nepal claiming official recognition of their party.
The faction submitted the documents claiming that they hold two-thirds majority in the party, so that the official recognition of the party should be granted to their faction.
NCP’s Standing Committee member and former Finance Minister Surendra Pandey said, “Our faction has a majority, 290 central committee members of the party, so we are the only valid NCP.”
Pandey said the letter also attached the decisions of the central committee meeting held on Tuesday.
They said they informed the commission that the party had ousted KP Sharma Oli from the post of the party chairman, by taking disciplinary action against him for his recent unconstitutional move to dissolve the House of Representatives.
The faction also informed the election body about the central committee’s decision to replace chairman Oli with senior party leader Madhav Kumar Nepal, he added.
“Being an autonomous constitutional body, we believe that the Election Commission will take a fair decision,” said Pandey.
He said that out of the existing 434 central committee members of the NCP, the faction has 290 members, which is almost 70 per cent.
“The other faction has only 113 central committee members which means their party couldn’t meet the quorum and make any decisions,” said Pandey.
“To get official recognition, the faction must have majority members and we have the majority of members,” he added.
Talking to The Rising Nepal, Raj Kumar Shrestha, Spokesperson of the Election Commission, said the commission had received letters from both the factions claiming the official recognition to their faction.
“The faction led by Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli submitted a letter to the commission on Tuesday. In the letter, both of the factions have claimed the authenticity of the party,” said Shrestha.
“The commission will conduct an investigation to verify the claims presented by both sides, and will grant official recognition to the faction with an election symbol, on the basis of the existing Political Party Act,” he said.
PM Oli-led faction has claimed the official recognition citing that the central committee meeting led by Prachanda-Nepal faction was not legal because the first chairman and general secretary of the party did not give the consent to do so.
The ruling party suffered an unofficial split, after the two factions led by chairmen Oli and Prachanda convened parallel central committee meetings on Tuesday.
Both the factions have been making an effort to retain official recognition and election symbol.