The Election Commission on Monday registered the Janata Samajbadi Party led by Ashok Rai.

On Sunday, Rai, the federal council chair of the Upendra Yadav-led Janata Samajbadi Party Nepal, along with six other lawmakers and 30 central committee members of the party had announced to split from the party and submitted an application at the Election Commission to register the new party with a name similar to the mother party.

Deputy Spokesperson of the Election Commission Ram Datta Pandey confirmed the new party’s registration.

“The party was given recognition in accordance with the Political Parties Act 2017,” Pandey told the Post. Pandey further said that the party was recognised and recorded in the commission’s register according to Section 33 of the Act and Rule 5 of the Regulations on Political Parties 2017.

The party was registered in line with the provisions in the Political Party Regulations 2017 and the prevailing federal laws.

Also, the leaders notified the federal parliament secretariat about the registration of their new party.

Ekram Giri, spokesperson for the parliament secretariat, said they wrote to the secretariat to inform the legislature about the registration of the new party by the Election Commission. According to him, the secretariat will make seating arrangements in Parliament based on their decision regarding whether they choose to sit on the opposition row or in the ruling side.

The Political Parties Act states that a group of dissidents of a party can split the organisation and form a new party if they can prove that they have support of at least 40 percent of the central committee members and at least 40 percent of the party’s lawmakers.

However, this provision was nullified through an ordinance three years ago.

In August 2021, then Sher Bahadur Deuba-led government had issued the ordinance and changed the provision, paving the way for 20 percent of the central committee and 20 percent lawmakers to form a party. The law was tweaked to help the then CPN-UML leader Madhav Kumar Nepal and Janata Samajbadi Party Nepal’s Mahantha Thakur launch their own parties.

The government has not revived the original provision requiring support of 40 percent central committee members and 40 percent lawmakers of a party to form a new party. Some legal experts thus argue that the provision, brought through an ordinance, expired when the government did not present it for parliamentary endorsement. Also, the government did not bring a substitute bill to revive the old provision, so there is a legal void on how to deal with splits in political parties.

However, the commission’s decision to register the new party can be challenged in the Supreme Court, which is also a right of the mother party, said advocate Om Parkash Aryal.

“Although the Deuba-led government brought the ordinance on the division of political parties and withdrew it, the regulations on political parties have not been repealed,” Aryal told the Post. “If the Election Commission has followed the same rule [Rule 5 of Regulations on Political Parties 2017], then the court’s decision will be up to its discretion.”

The leaders who formed the new party have accused Yadav, the chair of their mother party, of conspiring with opposition parties to topple the current coalition.

Federal Minister for Forest and Environment Nawal Kishor Sah Sudi, who joined the new party, claimed that the need for a new party was felt after party chair Upendra Yadav tried to break the ruling coalition.

“We took this decision to give stability to the incumbent government,” Minister Sudi told the Post. “Yadav is against this coalition, but we will continue to support it.”

However, Parkash Adhikari, a lawmaker close to Yadav, claims that his party has no intention to quit the current coalition. “Our party supported the present government and will continue to support it,” Adhikari told the Post. “Those who left the party had to say something to justify their decision and they have as such accused the party leadership on baseless grounds.”

The Janata Samajbadi Party Nepal, was the sixth-largest party in the federal legislature with 12 legislators. With seven lawmakers joining the new party, the Yadav-led party's strength has decreased drastically.

The split however has caused the party less damage at the provincial level than at the federal level.

Of the party’s 19 members in the provincial assembly, three didn’t attend the provincial parliamentary party meeting held on Monday, a party leader said. Janata Samajbadi Party Nepal central spokesperson Manish Suman, who took part in the provincial parliamentary meeting, said, “The split at the central level is not reflected in the provincial meeting as all members except three were present.”

Janata Samajbadi Party Nepal has altogether 19 seats in the 107-strong Madhesh Province assembly. Saroj Kumar Yadav, a leader close to Upendra Yadav, is the chief minister of the province with support from UML (23 seats), Maoist Centre (9 seats) and Unified Socialist (7 seats).

“Split in the party will not have any implication in the Madesh government,” Adhikari, a lawmaker of the Yadav-led party, told the Post. “As things stand, our party leads the government here in the province.”

However, a federal lawmaker of the Ashok Rai-led breakaway faction, Sushila Shreshta, said the decision about the Madhesh provincial government will be taken in the coming days. “We just have registered a new party and we are yet to take a decision with regard to the Madhesh province,” Shrestha told the Post.

However, the impact of division has already been seen in Lumbini Province.

Bhandari Lal Ahir, who had earlier resigned as a minister of Lumbini province, has again rejoined the Cabinet after the party split. Ahir was appointed minister without portfolio on April 5. Later, on April 18, he was assigned the portfolio of Agriculture and Land Management. But on April 21, he resigned, accusing the Lumbini Province Chief Minister Jokh Bahadur Mahara of not following the earlier agreement reached with his party.

Ahir joined the Janata Samajbadi Party led by Ashok Rai on Sunday and took charge of the ministry saying that he reassumed the position as per the decision of the new party.

The party’s split has also made no impact on the Dahal government at the centre. The coalition still holds a majority with 77 seats of the CPN-UML (excluding the Speaker and a suspended lawmaker), 32 of the Maoist Centre, 21 of the Rastriya Swatantra Party, seven of the newly formed Janata Samajbadi Party [excluding the Yadav faction] and 10 seats of the CPN (Unified Socialist).