2 B. Formation of parties (how parties come into being)

1. Inside parliament — legislative groupings coalesce into parties (the historical Westminster route); 2. Outside parliament — social movements, revolutions, interest groups organise to contest power (labour parties, national-liberation movements); 3. Splits and mergers — the commonest Nepali route: personality, faction and policy splits repeatedly re-draw the party map; merger/conversion (a party formed by unification of contesting streams — the peace-process-era realignments). Formation and regulation in Nepal (the legal core): 1. The right to form parties: the Constitution guarantees the freedom of association (Art. 17) and provides specifically that persons committed to a common political ideology, philosophy and programme may form and operate parties (Art. 269(1)). 2. Registration with the Election Commission (Arts. 269(2), 271) — a party must register to contest elections; it must submit its party constitution and annual audit report (Art. 269(3)) — transparency as a condition of participation. 3. Statutory conditions of registration (Art. 269(4)): - the party's constitution and rules must be democratic; - office-bearers at federal and provincial levels must be elected at least once every five years (six-month grace for exceptional circumstances); - party executive committees at all levels must reflect proportional inclusion of Nepal's diversity; - no registration where the party's name, objective, symbol or flag disturbs religious or communal unity or is divisive (Art. 269(5)). 4. Multi-party rule entrenched: any law…