The Supreme Court (SC) has ruled that Communist Party of Nepal belongs to Rishiram Kattel.
The SC website states that the joint bench of Justices Bam Kumar Shrestha and Kumar Regmi on Sunday has issued Kattel's writ meaning the demand of petitioner has been granted.
The Apex Court has went further and invalidated the unification of the then CPN-UML and CPN (Maoist) Center reinstating the two parties to their status on the day of unification.
The joint bench on February 25 had completed hearing on the petition by Kattel who argued that the party formed after unification of the then CPN-UML and CPN (Maoist) Center cannot be called Communist Party of Nepal as the party is registered with the Election Commission in his name.
The name Communist Party of Nepal, that the erstwhile UML and the Maoists chose after unification, was found already registered with the Election Commission. The Election Commission had then registered the unified ruling party as Communist Party of Nepal (CPN).
Kattel had first complained with the Election Commission and then moved the SC in December 2018 against the decision.
The Communist Party of Nepal registered with Kattel as chairman had even contested the last general election with hammer and spade as the election symbol. The party had also contested the last local election before the general election.
The name has been registered with the Election Commission for three decades.
The group of erstwhile Maoists led by Netra Bikram Chand also uses the name for its party.
Clause 6(e) of the Act about political parties prohibits registration of any party with the Election Commission if the name or election symbol matches with a party already registered with the Election Commission.
