A week before the deadline, various groups are enthusiastically applying for the registration of new parties at the Election Commission. It received five applications on Friday itself, taking the number of applicants to 17 since the registration was opened targeting the March 5 elections.

While the commission has already granted certificates for two parties, it is studying other applications. The constitutional election management body, on October 6, gave new parties more than six weeks to register for the snap polls.

Those willing to form a new party have until November 16 to get registered with the commission.

Harka Sampang, mayor of Dharan Sub-metropolitan City, was the first to get a new party registered in the aftermath of the Gen Z movement that upended the country’s politics. His Shram Sanskriti Party has already received the commission’s certificate. Likewise, Janaswaraj Party, formed by a splinter faction of CK Raut’s Janamat Party, has also been registered with the commission. However, the Supreme Court issued an interim order against the party .

“Other applications are being studied,” said Narayan Prasad Bhattarai, spokesperson for the commission. The commission takes the decision after studying whether their names, vision and mission are within the existing legal and constitutional framework.

To be listed as a political party, an outfit must submit its statute, flag, desired election symbol, and the signatures of at least 500 voters, among other documents. Those who have applied for the new parties include businessmen, lawmakers of the dissolved House of Representatives, and social activists, among others. The Gatisheel Loktantrik Party led by Dinesh Prasai, a professor of sociology, which includes businessman Birendra Basnet and others, awaits the commission’s certification.

An independent lawmaker from the dissolved lower house, Yogendra Mandal, has applied for the Urjashil Party Nepal. Mandal, a CPN-UML leader, contested the November 2022 elections independently and won after the party denied him the ticket. He comes from Morang.

Khagendra Sunar, an anti-caste discrimination activist, has applied to form a party. Sunar, a ministerial nominee in the interim government, was dropped at the last hour after his controversial past came to light. He has been facing charges of abusing a lawyer through social media.

Chandra Prakash Subedi has applied for the registration of Sundar Nepal Nirman Party while Sabin Sigdel wants the Rashtra Nirman Party listed for the upcoming elections. ​Ratna Prasad Shrestha has filed an application to constitute Nagarik Sarbochchata Party Nepal and the commission has received an application Himalaya Bahadur Chand for the registration of the Nepal Rashtriya Yuwa Party.

A group of youths led by Hira Prasad Seti has applied for Rastriya Gen Z Party Nepal. The party’s proposed election symbol is a cross of two khukuri knives. “We still expect more applications,” said Bhattarai. Different Gen Z groups and politicians claiming to be doing alternative politics too are under consultations for the formation of new parties.

As per the commission’s record, 122 parties had been listed until the call was made targeting the snap polls. The commission has said November 16 is the deadline to receive the registration certification, not the application day. Therefore, aspirants need to apply latest by Friday for the new parties.

The parties willing to contest the March 5 elections will have to get registered again. The commission plans to call registration for the election purpose in mid-December.

The constitutional election management authority has set a November 16 deadline for voter registration as well. As of Friday, 136,000 new voters have been enrolled.

“A majority of them are youths,” said Bhattarai. The commission will segregate voters by age once the registration process is complete.