The Election Commission on Wednesday consulted with the Office of Attorney General on how to provide electoral symbols to some of the parties represented in Parliament which have undergone merger and or have split from the original party.

According to the Local Level Election Act-2017, candidates from the parties represented in the Legislature-Parliament get the usual symbol of their party. However, following merger and split, the new political force loses its old identity. This has created confusion in the EC over assigning the parties their electoral symbols.

The EC consulted with Attorney General Raman Shrestha and Deputy Attorney General Kiran Poudel on the matter and the order of the political parties on the ballot paper, the constitutional commission said in a statement.

“AG Shrestha suggested that the old party gets the original symbol even if the new party is represented in Parliament,” the EC said. The poll authority prepares to print ballot papers from this week. There are 29 political parties represented in Parliament currently.

For example, the Rastriya Prajatantra Party-Nepal, which had “cow” as its election symbol, has lost its identity after becoming the RPP following its merger. The Madhesi Janadhikar Forum, the Sanghiya Samajbadi Party Nepal and the Khas Samabeshi Party merged to become the Sanghiya Samajbadi Forum-Nepal. They had separate symbols when they contested the Constituent Assembly election in 2013.

“The law on the political parties would have cleared the air but Parliament has yet to endorse the bill related to the political parties,” said EC Spokesperson Surya Prasad Sharma.

After passing four election-related bills one-and-a-half months ago, there has not been further discussion on the bill related to political parties, which is pending in the State Affairs Committee (SAC) of Parliament.

Admitting the delay, SAC Chairperson Dil Bahadur Gharti said they will soon discuss the matter with the committee members.