The Election Commission (EC) has quashed the complaint filed against the name of ruling Nepal Communist Party, upholding its earlier decision.

Nepal Communist Party Chairman Rishi Ram Kattel had lodged an application with the EC seeking review on the decision to recognise the ruling party as Nepal Communist Party, which is identical to the name of his party. The commission upheld its earlier decision after hearing the arguments from both Kattel and the ruling party.

EC Spokesperson Joint Secretary Deepak Subedi said a bench of the commission on Friday concluded that names Nepal Communist Party and Nepal Communist Party (NCP) are two different political parties.

On May 17, two major political parties—Communist Party of Nepal United Marxist Leninist (CPN-UML) and CPN (Maoist)—had announced the merger of two political parties. After the merger, the new party on June 6 had received the party registration certificate from the Election Commission with the name Nepal Communist Party (NCP).

According to Section 6 (e) of the Political Parties Act, any new party won’t be registered if the proposed name and symbol of the party coincide with any party registered with the EC. Kattel had lodged the application arguing that the ruling party’s name coincided with his party.

The EC said Nepal Communist Party is not the main name of the party as it has seven political parties with identification. According to the legal provision, all the parties registered with the EC before the implementation of the Political Parties Act 2073 will be automatically registered.  The EC bench ruled that the EC’s earlier decision was legitimate because the name Nepal Communist Party (NCP) was registered after the formal unification of already registered political parties—CPN-UML and CPN (Maoist).