EC calls for registration of political parties

The Election Commission (EC) has called for the registration of parties, giving them 11-days of time so that they could take part in the upcoming May 13 local level election.

The EC slated the party registration time for two weeks from today. A notice has been issued in this regard. The political parties are asked to submit the formal applications along with the sample of signatures of the office-bearers. The political management section at EC is looking after the registration process.

As per the Constitution of Nepal and Act on Political Parties, any political party willing to take part in the election must be registered at EC.

Along with the formal application, the parties should present party statute, manifesto, regulation, flag, sample of election symbol, arrangement of at least 21 central members in the central committee, and auditing reports of the previous fiscal year.

Similarly, the political parties must have reflected the country's diversity in their executive committee. The statute and regulation must be democratic and each office bearers of the party at federal and provincial levels elected once in five year.

Currently, there are 119 political parties registered at EC. Among the political parties which took part in the 2017/18 election, 18 parties had representation at the local level.

Although formation of the party was initiated before 1950, the Interim Statute formulated after 1950 democratic movement provided legitimacy to the party registration in Nepal.

It was Praja Parishad that was formed as the first political party in Nepal in 1935. The EC chronicles that Nepali Rashtriya Congress was formed in 1946, Nepali Congress in 1948, Nepal Communist Party in 1949, and Gorkha Parisad in 1950.

The political parties have been registered at EC since the first general election in the country in 1958. Currently, 119 political parties are registered and in existence.

The Constitution of the Kingdom of Nepal, 1959 had provided in the fundamental rights that Nepali citizens could register political parties. Although the royal coup in 1961 banned the political parties, the restoration of democracy in 1990 revived this right.