KATHMANDU, Feb 2: A bill to amend the Political Parties Act, 2017 has been registered in the Federal Parliament.
Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister Narayan Kaji Shrestha registered the bill in the House of Representatives on Thursday. The bill repeals the ordinance and reintroduces the previous provisions of the Act.
In accordance with the political parties’ provisions in Part 29 of the Constitution of Nepal, the Political Parties (Second Amendment) Ordinance, 2021 changed certain sections of the Political Parties Act, 2017. However, since then President Bidya Devi Bhandari repealed that ordinance on September 27, 2021, an amendment bill has been proposed to restore the original provisions of the Act by undoing the legal changes introduced by the repealed ordinance.
The bill specifies that, following the repeal of the ordinance concerning subsection 2 of section 33 and subsection 1 of section 48 of the Act, the original provisions will be reinstated.
The change being discussed is about the provision in the Act, which states that if 40 percent or more of a party's members in the federal parliament start a new party or join another one, they won't be seen as leaving their original party.
The government recently introduced an ordinance related to this provision, allowing a new party to be formed if at least 20 percent of the central committee members or 20 percent of the federal parliament's party members stay with it when it is registered.