The Election Commission is under pressure to resolve the issue immediately after the Congress split that occurred during the ongoing election process for the House of Representatives. The special general convention supporters are in the process of selecting an entirely new working committee led by Gagan Kumar Thapa. The Sher Bahadur Deuba supporters, on the other hand, have taken disciplinary action against the then general secretaries Gagan Kumar Thapa and Bishwaprakash Sharma and the then joint general secretary Farmullah Mansur and expelled them from the party.

 The decisions made by both the special general convention supporters and the Deuba faction are being prepared to be sent to the Election Commission for updating. There is a legal provision that the party must inform the Commission of any changes made to its office bearers within 30 days. Section 51 of the Political Parties Act states that the party must inform the Commission of any changes or amendments to its name, statute, rules, seal, flag or symbol, changes in office bearers and other information as specified by the Commission within 30 days. 

Speaking in the closed session, leader Sharma expressed confidence that the Commission would uphold the decision of the special general convention. The special general convention supporters had informed the Commission that a special general convention had been demanded with the signatures of 54 percent of the representatives on 16th Pus. The letter also requested the Commission to instruct the party to convene the special general convention demanded in accordance with the statute. However, the Commission has not given any such instruction to the Congress as requested. 

The Commission has also been informed that the second special general convention is being held starting on 17th Pus. The special party has informed the Commission that the decisions will be sent for updating after the general convention is over. 

The Deuba faction, on the other hand, wrote a letter to the Commission on Wednesday informing it that the Congress has not organized a special general convention. In addition, information has also been sent to the Commission that disciplinary action has been taken against General Secretaries Gagan Thapa and Bishwaprakash Sharma and Joint General Secretary Farmullah Mansur and they have been expelled from the party. Commission spokesperson Narayan Prasad Bhattarai said that separate letters have been received from both sides. 

Although the information that action has been taken against three office bearers has been received from the Deuba faction, it has not been duly updated as per the process as per Article 51, a source in the Political Parties and Law Division of the Commission has said. Schedule-18 of the Political Parties Regulations contains a format for the application for changing the details of the party.

The application and the documents mentioned there should be submitted in accordance with the same format for changing the details. Rule 25 of the regulations states that if a party changes its name, statute, rules, seal, flag, logo or changes its office bearers as per Section 51 of the Act, the party’s chief office bearer or authorized person shall inform the Commission as per Schedule 18.

 A legal officer of the Commission says that there is no dispute in the case where only one party comes for an update with information about the change in office bearers as per Section 51 and the other party does not come. ‘But that is not the case here, both parties will come for that,’ he said, ‘In that case, the Commission can check the available evidence and update the details of one party. In that case, the other party will have to join hands with the party that has received the authorization or choose the path of forming a new party.’

Going down the path of forming a new party means that the party will reach zero during the election. By forming a new party, the party will not have the position and opportunity to participate in the voting to be held on 21 Falgun as per the election schedule. 

New political parties formed through party splits or registered recently are not allowed to participate in the upcoming House of Representatives elections. There is a constitutional provision that parties registered with the Commission must re-register their parties for election purposes. During the period of 1-14 Mangs, when the Commission allowed party registration for the House of Representatives elections, 107 applications were received from 114 parties.

Only parties registered in this way are allowed to participate in the 21 Falgun elections. The Commission is currently not in a position to bring back all the election programs, starting from party registration for election purposes, for the new parties to participate in the elections. The official says that the election cannot be held on 21 Falgun if that is the case.

Updating the decision of the special general convention proponents or one of the decisions made by the central committee is a 'shortcut' for now. He said that the Commission can reach a conclusion on whether to update the decision of the general convention or not as soon as it is determined whether the process of calling a special general convention is in accordance with the party statute.

‘The form in which the dispute comes and how the Commission looks at it is a matter of the responsibility of the Commission officials,’ said a Commission source, ‘The Commission is the Chief Commissioner and the Commissioners.’ The posts of Chief Commissioner and one Commissioner are currently vacant in the five-member Commission. The Acting Chief Election Commissioner Ram Prasad Bhandari and two Commissioners are Sagun Shumsher Jabra and Janaki Tuladhar. They were appointed by the then KP Sharma Oli government.

If the Commission sees that only one of the decisions made by both sides cannot be updated, the issue of party recognition will enter into dispute. That is the resolution of the dispute regarding party recognition as stipulated in Chapter-9 of the Political Parties Act. According to a Commission source, in that situation, the Commission should decide on the authenticity of the decision of the party officials, the central committee or the central committee. 

Section 43 of the Act states that the Commission shall have the authority to resolve disputes between two or more parties or between two or more factions of the same party regarding the name, seal, statute, flag, symbol, office bearers, central committee or the decision of the central committee. If both parties have claims regarding the name, flag, etc. of the central committee and the party, the Commission officials say that the specific procedures prescribed for that will take time if they go through the dispute resolution process in Sections 43, 44, 45 and 46 of the Act.

In the event that the two parties do not reach an agreement while resolving the dispute, the Commission may, on the basis of evidence, recognize one party as the party before the dispute arose. In the event that only one party cannot be recognized in this way, the party with the majority in the central committee may be recognized as the old party and the other party may be recognized as a separate political party and registered. However, the new party formed in this way will not be able to participate in the ongoing elections.

Former Chief Election Commissioner Ayodhiprasad Yadav says that the commission should not take a long process since the election process has already begun. He says that the commission should be able to give a decision on a 'fast track' through a short method and process. In the past, there have been examples of the commission dragging out party disputes for a long time without giving a decision. Yadav says that the commission does not have such an exemption as the situation is not normal now.

He says that the commission officials are responsible for making decisions on disputes and will not comment on the matter at this time. Commissioner Jabra informed that the commission will take a decision based on the evidence in accordance with the form in which the matter enters the commission. 'There is no need to comment on matters that have not yet reached the commission,' he said, 'In the event of a dispute between any party, the commission will give a decision as soon as possible, considering the pressure of the election.'