Kathmandu : The Communist Party of Nepal (UML) has split. UML senior leader Madhav Kumar Nepal has split the party and applied to the Election Commission for registration of a new party under his own leadership.

The newly formed party has been named CPN-UML (Socialist) and the election symbol is an open book.

Leader of the newly formed party Metmani Chaudhary said that the party has already applied for the registration of the party including Rajendra Pandey.

Leader Nepal is the coordinator of the new party.

Today, President Vidyadevi Bhandari had issued an ordinance on political parties (Second Amendment).

A statement issued by the Office of the President on Wednesday states that the President has issued the Political Parties (Second Amendment) Ordinance, 2078 BS in accordance with Article 114, Clause 1 of the Constitution. The UML is divided on the basis of the same ordinance.

The ordinance provides for the division of parties in the Central Committee or Parliamentary Party by increasing the number to 20 percent.