Two days after Baburam Bhattarai led Nepal Samajbadi Party decided to contest the upcoming elections with CPN (Maoist Centre)’s election symbol, Bamdev Gautam, a former CPN-UML, also has decided to follow suit.

Maoist Centre spokesperson Krishna Bahadur Mahara during a press meet on Tuesday said that the party has agreed to accept the leaders from Bhattarai and Gautam’s party to contest the elections under the party’s election symbol–“hammer and sickle within a circle.”

“Baburam Bhattarai and Bamdev Gautam of National Unity Campaign have expressed their interest to contest the polls with our election symbol. We have agreed to accept their leaders to contest [the upcoming elections] with our election symbol,” Mahara told reporters after the party’s Standing Committee meeting.

Mahara said Bhattarai and Gautam had some conditions which his party had to discuss.

“The issue of their candidates will be finalised after discussing it at the meeting of the ruling coalition partners,” Mahara said.

Bhattarai led Nepal Samajbadi Party and Maoist Centre leaders are preparing to register their new party names at the Election Commission to contest the polls with a common election symbol of Maoist Centre.

Tuesday is the deadline for the parties to register for contesting the November 20 federal and provincial polls.

Bhattarai won the 2017 elections from Gorkha-2 from his then Naya Shakti Party.

Gautam, a former deputy prime minister and home minister, lost the 2017 elections from Bardiya-1 to Nepali Congress’ Sanjay Gautam.