Rastriya Prajatantra Party (RPP) led by Pashupati Shumsher JB Rana and the dissident group led by Home Minister Kamal Thapa blasted the Election Commission (EC) for denying them to award the party’s official election symbol, plough.

The coveted election symbol: Plough
The EC on Tuesday refused to assign the RPP’s official symbol to the establishment as well as the dissident group. It instead assigned new symbols to both the groups.

Talking to Nepalnews on Wednesday, spokesman Parshuram Khapung alleged that the EC deprived his party of its election symbol despite producing sufficient legal grounds to support its claim.

“To bar our party from using the symbol that has been used in all previous elections is sheer injustice. We are disappointed by the Commission’s decision,” he said. “RPP is a party recognized by the EC as a ‘national party’ on the basis of popular votes we received in the last general elections. The EC has no power to deprive us from using our election symbol,” he added.

Leaders of the RPP led by Rana have said they will now knock the doors of the Supreme Court to protect their election symbol.

The dissident group led by Home Minister Thapa, however, has termed the EC’s decision as legal and done according to the Constitution. Padma Sundar Lawoti, who led the dissident faction to call a ‘special general convention’ of the party early this month, told Nepalnews that his party would participate in the municipal polls with the new election symbol assigned by the EC.

“However, our claim to the party’s official election symbol remains unchanged,” he added.

The EC has assigned `peacock’ as election symbol to the RPP led by Rana while the dissident group led by Minister Thapa has been assigned ‘flower pot’ as the election symbol.

When contacted by Nepalnews, spokesperson at the Election Commission Tejmuni Bajracharya said that it was only an interim decision taken for the purpose of the forthcoming municipal polls.

“The Commission will decide which faction of the RPP is the genuine one only after the completion of the polls,” he added. He denied allegations that the decision was taken under the influence of the royal government.