Provisions Relating to Political Parties

269. Formation, registration and operation of political parties: (1) Persons who are

committed to common political ideology, philosophy and program may, subject to

laws made under sub-clause (c) of clause (2) of Article 17, form and operate

political parties, and generate, or cause to be generated, publicity in order to secure

support and cooperation from the general public for their ideology, philosophy and

program or carry out other necessary activity for this purpose.

(2) A political party formed in accordance with clause (1) must register

the party with the Election Commission upon fulfilment of the procedures

established by law.

(3) A petition to be made for the purpose of registration of a party in

accordance with clause (2) must be accompanied by the constitution and manifesto

of the concerned political party and such other documents as required by the

Federal law.

(4) For a petition to be made for the registration of a party in accordance

with clause (2), the political party must fulfil the following conditions:

(a) its constitution and rules must be democratic,

(b) its constitution must provide for election of each of the officebearers

of the party at the Federal and State levels at least once in

every five years;

provided that nothing shall bar the making of provision by the

constitution of a political party to hold such election within six

months in the event of failure to hold election of its office-bearers

within five years because of a special circumstance.

(c) there must be a provision of such inclusive representation inits

executive committees at various levels as may be reflecting the

diversity of Nepal.

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(5) If the name, objective, insignia or flag of a political party is of such a

nature as to jeopardize the religious and communal unity of the country or to

fragment the country, that party shall not be registered.

270. Prohibition on imposition of restrictions on political parties: (1) Any law,

arrangement or decision so made as to impose any restriction on the formation and

operation of a political party and on the generation of publicity in order to secure

support and cooperation from the general public for the ideology, philosophy and

program of the party in accordance with Article 269 shall be deemed to be

inconsistent with this Constitution and shall, ipso facto, be void.

(2) Any law, arrangement or decision so made as to allow for

participation or involvement of only a single political party or persons having

similar political ideology, philosophy or program in the elections or in the political

system of, or in the conduct of governance of, the country shall be deemed to be

inconsistent with this Constitution and shall, ipso facto, be void.

271. Registration required for securing recognition for the purpose of contesting

elections as political party: (1) Every political party that is registered in

accordance with Article 269 and intends to secure recognition from the Election

Commission for the purposes of elections must be registered with the Election

Commission in fulfilment of the procedures set forth in the Federal law.

(2) The political party must submit a yearly audit report in addition to

the matters set forth in clause (3) of Article 269 along with an application to be

made for the purpose of clause (1) and also fulfil the terms set forth in clause (4) of

that Article.

272. Other provisions relating to political parties: Provisions relating to the

formation, registration, operation and facilities of political parties and other matters

pertaining thereto shall be as provided for in the Federal law.