President Bidya Devi Bhandari repealed the Ordinance on Political Parties (Second Amendment)-2078 on Monday evening on the recommendation of the government.

"President Bidya Devi Bhandari as per the decision of the Council of Ministers on 2078/6/11 [27 Sept, 2021] and recommendation of the Prime Minister has scrapped the Ordinance on Political Parties (Second Amendment)-2078 as per Clause 2(b) of Article 114 of the Constitution of Nepal,” the Office of the President said in a statement on Monday evening.

The ordinance had prevented Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba from expanding his Cabinet even two and a half months since assuming office, as his partners in the ruling coalition feared it could ease splits in their parties.

The Deuba government had introduced the ordinance on August 18, a day after proroguing the House to split the CPN-UML and the Janata Samajbadi Party.

Aided by the ordinance, Madhav Kumar Nepal broke away from the UML and formed the CPN (Unified Socialist) while Mahantha Thakur split the Janata Samajbadi Party to form the Loktantrik Samajbadi Party.

The amended provisions meant any group within a party with 20 percent members of the Central Committee or the Parliamentary Party could split the party and form a new party.

Before the ordinance amended the Political Parties Act, dissident groups wishing to split a party needed to command support of 40 percent members in both the Central Committee and the Parliamentary Party.

Ruling coalition partner Janata Samajbadi Party had been demanding that the government repeal the ordinance before it could join the government, while another partner, the CPN (Unified Socialist), wanted its continuation, as a court case was pending.

The government had presented the ordinance at the House of Representatives on September 8.