Nepali Communist Party led by Prachanda gets recognition from EC

Kathmandu, Nov 14 (PTI) The newly-formed Nepali Communist Party (NCP) led by former prime minister Pushpakamal Dahal 'Prachanda' was officially registered with the Election Commission on Friday.

The party was formed earlier this month through the merger of at least 10 smaller political parties.

While CPN-Maoist Centre head Prachanda is the coordinator, former prime minister and CPN-Unified Socialist chairman Madhav Kumar Nepal is the co-coordinator of the newly-formed party.

The NCP, created through the unification of nearly a dozen communist outfits, is expected to pose a significant challenge to the CPN-UML led by deposed prime minister K P Sharma Oli, currently the largest communist party in Nepal.

Ahead of the general election in March, Nepal is witnessing a wave of new party formations, mergers and realignments. At least 20 new political parties have applied for registration with the Election Commission in the current fiscal year.

Meanwhile, the Election Commission has extended the deadline for new voter registration by five days. The deadline, earlier set to end on November 16, has been pushed to November 21 amid a surge in applications, particularly from Gen Z youths.

As of Thursday, 2,57,505 new voters had registered, according to Election Commission officials. The number of voters during the last parliamentary elections in 2022 stood at about 1,81,68,000. PTI SBP SCY SCY