KATHMANDU: Sandeep Pun ‘Shaheed’, a leader from the erstwhile Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist Centre), has urged the Election Commission to retain the party’s name, flag, guiding principles, and election symbol.

The majority of the Maoist Centre recently merged with other parties to form the Nepali Communist Party, whose proposed election symbol is a five-pointed star.

In a letter to the Election Commission, Pun noted that the Maoist Centre’s working committee has been transformed into a convention-organizing committee for the party’s general convention.

He argued that until a new working committee is formally elected, the current committee remains in a caretaker role and does not have the authority to make decisions with long-term impact.

Pun emphasized that the erstwhile Maoist Centre continues to exist legally and cannot abandon its election symbol, name, or Maoist principles.

He warned that attempting to change the party’s established name, flag, or election symbol — based on the contributions and sacrifices of the party’s historic people’s war, martyrs, wounded, and missing — would amount to an attack on the people’s legacy.

The letter called on the Election Commission to remain impartial and free from influence.

Pun cautioned that freezing the party’s name and symbols would raise questions about the legality of elections, and added that if the party is prevented from contesting, it may be compelled to launch a movement — the consequences of which, he said, would be the responsibility of both the Election Commission and the Government of Nepal.