A day after the special general convention of Nepali Congress changed the party leadership, the party’s two factions have launched separate legal and political battles from Thursday.

With the parliamentary elections just 49 days away, the division in the Congress has sent shockwaves through Nepali politics, with some speculating that the March 5 elections might be deferred. But the government has been saying that the elections will take place as scheduled.

There is also confusion about what will happen to the candidates under the proportional representation (PR) after the split. The party has already submitted a list of candidates under the PR system to the Election Commission, and if the commission grants legitimacy to the faction led by Gagan Thapa, the situation could change.

If the Thapa–led faction wins the battle, it will submit a new list. The other faction, led by Sher Bahadur Deuba, could then approach the Supreme Court seeking to cancel the Election Commission’s decision, or vice–versa.

Likewise, the Congress had earlier decided on seat-sharing arrangements with the CPN-UML for the National Assembly election, which is scheduled later this month.

With leadership changed and the party divided into two, it is unclear whether the two factions will adhere to the previous decision. The Thapa faction has already announced that it will not partner with any party in the elections. This means that if the Election Commission authenticates the Thapa faction, it will end the tie-up with UML in the National Assembly election.

On Thursday, the new Congress leadership led by Thapa reached the commission seeking formal recognition of their leadership which was announced earlier that morning.

The split happened on Wednesday when the special general convention elected Thapa, the general secretary, as party president. The Deuba faction, however, has termed the special general convention illegitimate and against the party charter.

Given the urgency of the matter and the tight timeline before nominations for the March election scheduled for January 19, both factions are rushing to secure their positions.

According to party spokesperson Devraj Chalise, the first meeting of Thapa’s new central committee convened on Thursday and decided to formally inform the Election Commission about the leadership change.

As per the decision, Thapa, office bearers and central committee members went to commission and claimed legitimacy based on the party charter and backing of the majority of elected representatives at the special convention.

The first central committee meeting appointed Chalise as spokesperson. Announcing the meeting’s decisions, Chalise said that Gagan Thapa’s signature would replace Sher Bahadur Deuba’s on official documents.

“After the party’s second special general convention, there have been a number of decisions and developments that require updating of previous records at the Election Commission,” he said. “This includes changing the [party president’s] signature on candidate list, amending the proportional representation candidate list, and fulfilling the remaining legal obligations at the commission.”

After receiving the Thapa faction’s claims, Acting Chief Election Commissioner Ram Prasad Bhandari said the commission would study the party charter and legal provisions and come up with a decision at the earliest.

The decision taken by the special convention is supreme, Gagan Thapa told reporters on the Election Commission’s premises. “We conducted and completed the special convention as per the party charter.”

Thapa said that they have submitted all necessary documents to update the leadership records.

“Candidate nominations are scheduled for January 19. Therefore, we expect the updating process to be completed by tomorrow [Friday] or the day after. We have submitted everything with all facts and evidence. They are also publicly available,” Thapa told reporters after submitting the affidavits at the commission.

On the other hand, the Congress faction led by Deuba also expedited legal consultations on Thursday.

Purna Bahadur Khadka and other leaders of the Deuba faction consulted prominent lawyers, including former attorney general Upendra Kesari Nyaupane; senior advocate Sher Bahadur KC; former president of the Democratic Lawyers Association Yogendra Adhikari; and current general secretary, Gyanendra Adhikari; on Thursday and solicited their views on how best to tackle the legal battles posed by Thapa faction.

The consultations focused on whether the Election Commission could validate the committee elected at the special convention without the party’s central committee’s approval, an advocate who attended the consultation told the Post.

They also explored ways to maintain the central committee elected through the 14th general convention in 2021.

The lawyers argued that the special convention could not have been held, nor a new leadership elected, without the central committee’s approval.

“We are waiting for the Election Commission’s decision,” a leader of the Deuba faction told the Post. “We have also submitted our claims.”