At a time when the ruling Nepal Communist Party (NCP) was facing a crisis due to a division among its leaders, the Supreme Court (SC) has nullified the unification between the erstwhile Communist Party of Nepal- UML and Communist Party of Nepal - Maoist Centre and maintained their separate party status. The UML and the Maoist Centre were led by Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli and Pushpa Kamal Dahal Prachanda, respectively. The SC's verdict issued on Sunday has brought a lot of ripples in the two NCP factions as well as the entire political circle in the country. A joint bench of SC Justices Kumar Regmi and Bam Kumar Shrestha decided to recognise the 'Nepal Communist Party' led by Rishi Kattel. Kattel had filed a writ claiming that the NCP formed after the unification of the CPN-UML and the CPN- Maoist Centre three years ago had copied his party's name. The verdict, however, has remained silent about the fate of the three internal organs -- Secretariat, Standing Committee and the Central Committee — and several members of the National Assembly elected from the NCP.

Anyway, the SC's decision is in favour of a small and weak party with no representation in the federal parliament and local levels. This indicates that the judiciary is independent and fair enough to ensure that there is rule of law in the country. The unexpected verdict, however, has added further complications to the crisis-ridden national politics. The UML and the Maoist Centre) that had formed an alliance for the 2017 elections made a landslide victory. In May 2018, the parties got unified into the NCP. Prior to the start of the formal unification process, the alliance formed the government under the leadership of KP Sharma Oli. The erstwhile UML had 121 lawmakers in the House of Representatives while the Maoist Centre had 53 seats. The SC decision has made Oli's UML the largest political party in parliament. However, the number of lawmakers the party now possesses is not adequate to back the government. So, it will have to garner support from at least one party representing the parliament to win a vote of confidence by garnering minimum requirement of 138 MPs.

In the wake of the verdict, the leaders of various political parties have started holding consultations to devise strategies to cope with the new situation. The decision has given rise to new political polarisations in the country. As both the factions led by Oli and Prachanda were claiming the recognition as the official NCP, the verdict has put the country on another course of action. Some leaders form Prachanda-Nepal faction of ruling NCP have said that they would knock at the door of court, seeking to review the verdict in regard to the revival of the already unified parties. As the reinstated House of Representatives has convened, the political parties representing the parliament must seek solution to the existing political uncertainty through dialogues. Instead of hankering after power and positions, the responsible leaders now need to reach an understanding to bring the chaotic national politics back on track at the earliest. This is necessary to end confusion and to ensure political stability.