Nepal's EC asks CPN (UML), CPN (Maoist Centre) to come up with new name

Kathmandu: Nepal's Election Commission on Tuesday asked the CPN (UML) led by Prime Minister K P Sharma Oli and the CPN (Maoist Center) led by Pushpa Kamal Dahal Prachanda' to come up with a new name and election symbol of the party if they decide to merge their parties again, days after the Supreme Court quashed the 2018 unification of the two parties.

During a meeting of the top election body on Tuesday, it was decided to uphold the apex court's verdict and scrap the Nepal Communist Party (NCP) with the registration number 145 in its record, My Republica newspaper

reported.

The EC asked Sandhya Tiwari, the chief of the Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist-Leninist), and Gopal Kirati, the chairman of the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist Center), to propose new names and election symbols within 15 days if they opt for fresh merger, the paper said.

The CPN (UML) and CPN (Maoist Centre) merged in May 2018 to form a unified Nepal Communist Party following victory of their alliance in the 2017 general

elections.

On Sunday, an apex court bench of justices Kumar Regmi and Bam Kumar Shrestha quashed their and granted authenticity of the Nepal Communist Party (NCP) to Rishiram Kattel, who had registered the party at the Election Commission (EC) in his name prior to the formation of Nepal Communist Party (NCP) led by Oli and Prachanda.