The Election Commission on Monday registered a new party–Janata Samajbadi Party– under the leadership of Ashok Rai who led a group of disgruntled leaders of the Janata Samajbadi Party Nepal.

A faction led by the ruling party’s federal council chair Rai had, on Sunday, registered the application seeking registration of a new party at the election body. Acting on the same, the new political party without the word ‘Nepal’ of the mother party has been registered, said Ram Datta Pandey, assistant spokesman for the commission.

“The commission has decided to register the political party by the name of ‘Janata Samajbadi Party’ as per Article 33 of the Political Party Act, 2017 and the Political Party Regulation, 2018,” Pandey said.

The Janata Samajbadi Party Nepal, which was formed after the merger of Samajbadi Party Nepal and Rastriya Janata Party Nepal in July 2020, split on Sunday after a majority of its lawmakers and over two dozen central committee members applied for the formation of a new party at the Election Commission.

The break follows a long-standing discontent in the party with chair Upendra Yadav. Only after the pressure from the other faction, had the establishment side been ready to hold its general convention.