The government is presenting a bill in the House to revive the erstwhile act about political parties.
The then Sher Bahadur Deuba government on August 17, 2021, had brought an ordinance allowing split of a party with support of just 20 percent in either the central committee or parliamentary party to facilitate split of the then Khanal-Nepal faction from CPN-UML, and the Mahantha Thakur-led faction of Janata Samajwadi Party (JSP).
The then act about political parties required support of 40 percent in both the parliamentary party and the central committee to split any political party.
The government then revoked that ordinance on September 27, 2021, after formation of CPN (Unified Socialist) led by Madhav Kumar Nepal and Loktantrik Samajwadi Party led by Thakur.
There was no law related to political parties after that.
The current government is bringing the bill to revive the old act almost two and a half years after that.
Election Commission Spokesperson Shaligram Sharma Paudel has told Setopati that the Cabinet meeting on Wednesday has decided to present the bill in a way to revive the erstwhile act with previous provisions. “We had written to the Home Ministry about the legal vacuum one and a half years ago,” he has stated.
Joint Secretary at the Home Ministry Bharat Mani Rijal has confirmed that the new bill has previous provisions. “We have kept the previous provision requiring support of 40 percent in both the parliamentary party and the central committee to split any political party,” Rijal has stated. “The bill with previous provision would soon be registered in the House.”
