The Election Commission is having a tough time figuring out which is the real Congress. One of the reasons is that the three commissioners have political soft spots for three different political entities: Deuba, Koirala and the RPP. The EC also has a history of taking time to decide: it took three months to rule on the Baburam Bhattarai vs Lila Mani Pokhrel tussle in 1994 over the Jana Morcha split.

All this dilly-dallying is making the two factions of the Congress very nervous. The deadline for registering new parties expires 9 July. The rump Congress will therefore need a ruling by Monday morning at the latest, and at the pace things are moving, many say that is unlikely. Both Deuba and Koirala have been issuing vague threats of a boycott if they don't get the party's all-important tree symbol. But both also have fall-back options of joining two of the four new parties that have been registered with intriguing names like Rastriya Nepali Congress and Nepali
Congress Party.

Meanwhile, the EC has asked security agencies to begin assessing the requirements for the polls, based on which it will decide how to hold the elections-phases, polling centres, etc. But there is another "what if" before that: the Supreme Court verdict on litigation demanding that the dissolved House be reinstated.