Kathmandu. The Election Commission courtyard looked livelier than usual on Thursday as Netra Bikram Chand ‘Biplav’ arrived with his leaders, a rose in hand and a musical procession behind him, to receive the party’s registration certificate.

Biplav’s Nepal Communist Party (Maoist), registered for the upcoming Falgun 21 elections, has been assigned the election symbol of a rose. The moment they received the certificate and symbol, party members broke into celebration, circling the premises with drums and traditional music.

Biplav, who has been trying to revive the wartime Maoist legacy, had first applied to register the party under the name Nepal Communist Party. But because another party already held the name, they later registered as the Communist Party of Nepal (CPN).

Now, after Maoist factions and other groups jointly registered the Nepali Communist Party, Biplav has kept the original NCP (Maoist) identity alive and formally registered the party once again.

The party has also submitted the names of its 105 central committee members to the Election Commission.