The Khanal-Nepal faction of CPN-UML is waiting for President Bidya Devi Bhandari to issue the ordinance about splitting parties to go to the Election Commission to register a new party.
The Cabinet meeting Tuesday government brought an ordinance about splitting parties after ending the House session on Monday and sent it to the President's Office for endorsement. The ordinance will allow split of parties with support of just 20 percent in either the central committee or parliamentary party.
The act about political parties requires support of 40 percent in both the parliamentary party and the central committee to split any political party.
President Bidya Devi Bhandari will have to issue the ordinance for it to come into effect.
The ordinance has been brought as the Khanal-Nepal faction cannot muster support of 40 percent in both the parliamentary party and the central committee to split UML as necessary now.
Lawmaker of the Khanal-Nepal faction Met Mani Chaudhary told Setopati that the faction is ready for registration of a new party. "We have prepared to go to the Election Commission immediately after the ordinance is issued by president."
UML has 155 federal lawmakers including 121 House of Representatives (HoR) members and 34 National Assembly members. A total of 22 HoR members had voted in favor of the Sher Bahadur Deuba government during the floor test.
Tulasa Thapa, who was not in the faction at the time, attended the meeting of faction at Aryal Hotel in New Baneshwore on Tuesday. There are reports that Thapa and her husband Bam Dev Gautam, who is a National Assembly member, will both join the faction. Gautam didn't even attend the standing committee meeting called by Chairman KP Sharma Oli on the day.
The faction needs 31 lawmakers to muster support of 20 percent to split the party as per the new ordinance and it claims it has 34 including 10 other National Assembly members.
The party's central committee is 203-strong and the faction claims 80 of them attended the central committee meeting held by the faction on August 6. A total of 22 out of them are against splitting the party, according to another leader of the faction, but the faction will still have enough central members to split the party.
The faction will need support of 41 central members to muster up 20 percent.
Oli has sent a new list to the Election Commission today expanding the central committee to 260, according to another lawmaker of the faction Birodh Khatiwada. The faction will need support of 52 in that case.
The support of 58 members will be enough for the faction even then.
