Leaders Defecting from Rastriya Swatantra Party Allege End of Good Governance and Internal Democracy
Kathmandu. Leaders leaving the Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) have recently accused the party leadership of ending good governance and internal democracy within the party. They are raising questions about the party not operating according to established rules and procedures, while also leveling serious questions against the leadership regarding financial transparency.
The party leadership has offered no response as the number of leaders leaving just before the election continues to rise. As the wave for RSP grows nationwide ahead of the elections scheduled for Falgun 21, Dr. Pranayashamsher Rana, who was a candidate for Kathmandu Constituency No. 5 in the 2079 elections, left the party on Falgun 7. Expressing dissatisfaction over the non-transparent candidate selection process, he joined the Nepali Congress.
On the same day, Bagmati Province Vice-Chairman Dinesh Humagai announced his departure from the party, alleging financial manipulation in candidate selection. Humagai was the RSP candidate for Kavre Constituency No. 2 in the previous election. Mamata Sharma, the founding chairperson of Madhes Province, also left the RSP on Falgun 6, alleging a lack of rules, procedures, and financial transparency within the party. Both Humagai and Sharma have since joined the Congress.
Speaking at a joint press conference in Kathmandu on Saturday, they raised serious questions about internal democracy, rules, procedures, and financial transparency within the party. At the event, Dr. Rana alleged that the slogan 'Initiation of Order, End of Disorder' had been reversed within just three and a half years.
‘The initiation of order and the end of disorder has been reversed in just three and a half years. The end of order and the initiation of extreme disorder has been seen in RSP. The party leadership started building an organization favorable to itself’, he said, ‘All party members were scammed. It was said that primary elections would be held based on organization, but as the elections approached, the authority to select leaders was snatched away from the organization.’
In an interview a few days ago, Rana also accused RSP Chairman Rabi Lamichhane of collecting large sums of money through a signature campaign against the government's alleged vendetta. He stated that money was collected for every activity, but there was no information on how or by whom it was spent. He questioned whether Rabi, who speaks of good governance outside, should adhere to good governance himself.
At the program, Mamata Sharma claimed that the number of people leaving the party daily is increasing because, despite talking about transparency outside, the behavior seen inside was the opposite. ‘The party talked about transparency, but much opacity was seen inside. That is why friends who joined RSP are leaving the party daily,’ she said.
Sharma urged the voters of Chitwan Constituency No. 2 to use their discretion this time, citing the ongoing court case against Rabi regarding cooperative fraud.
Among those leaving the RSP are founding member Khemkumari Bhurtel (Urmila), Nuwakot District Member Ashok Thapa, Dr. Shree Kunwar, recommended as a candidate for the House of Representatives from Rupandehi Constituency No. 1, Jit Bahadur Harijan, Chairman of Bardaghat Municipality-13 in Nawalparasi (Bardaghat Susta West), and Bara District Joint Secretary Pawan Chaudhary, among many other leaders who questioned good governance.
The government has filed cases against Ravi in the District Courts of Kathmandu, Chitwan, Kaski, Rupandehi, and Parsa for allegedly defrauding savings from various cooperatives. After being jailed for approximately nine months in total in installments, he was released on bail in the first week of Poush. Ravi was released after posting a total bail of 6 crore 47 lakh, including 3 crore 79 lakh in five district courts and 2 crore 68 lakh in the Butwal Bench of the High Court. Former Co-General Secretary Sumana Shrestha and Secretariat Member Santosh Pariyar, among others, had resigned from the party expressing dissatisfaction with the leadership's working style. Founding General Secretary Dr. Mukul Dhakal, who questioned the leadership's working style by raising issues of rules, procedures, and transparency within the party, was removed from his post.
Reason for Controversy
The main reason for the dispute within the RSP appears to be the proportional representation closed list submitted to the Election Commission on Poush 14. Aspiring candidates expressed dissatisfaction, alleging that the rules and regulations were flouted by replacing individuals who scored high marks in internal competition with those who scored low marks in the closed list of 110 people submitted to the Commission, placing the latter in the first and second positions. Leaders alleged that when they demanded the results of internal evaluations and primary elections, the leadership threatened them to leave the party.
The party had called for applications from aspiring candidates from Kartik 22 to Mangsir 25. Out of 418 applicants, RSP published the final list of 387 people on Poush 11. However, allegations arose that candidates selected outside the process replaced those who scored high marks in the primary election in the closed list submitted to the Election Commission on Poush 14. Dissatisfied individuals filed complaints with the Central Committee, Provincial Committee, and the Central Election Commission, alleging financial manipulation in candidate selection. They pressured the party to make public the scores obtained by all aspiring candidates.
The party formed a candidate selection committee under the coordination of Co-General Secretary Bipin Kumar Acharya. Acharya later resigned from the selection committee. Secretariat Member Birajbhakta Shrestha was brought in to replace Acharya. There was strong opposition within the party after Acharya's name was placed first in the Khas-Arya cluster of the proportional representation closed list. Following the opposition, he withdrew his name from the closed list and became a candidate for Dang Constituency No. 2 in the direct election.
The list of 387 proportional representation candidates was published on Poush 11, after 418 people applied to be candidates. 317 people had applied for direct elections. Applications for proportional representation candidates were opened from Kartik 22. The party collected 50,000 in application fees from those interested in becoming proportional candidates, accumulating 2 crore 9 lakh from the applicants.
Applications for direct candidates were open from Mangsir 21 to Magh 1. RSP stated that 317 people applied during that period. However, the results obtained by any of those who applied for direct elections were not made public. A fee of 25,000 was collected from those interested in contesting direct elections, amounting to 79 lakh 25 thousand collected from applicants. RSP had set criteria for candidate selection, allocating 50% to the Leadership Academy, Political Proximity, Proportional representation, and 50% to the Primary Election. However, leaders allege that the party did not follow any rules or procedures.
Nevertheless, regarding the dissatisfaction seen within the RSP, Co-General Secretary Bipin Acharya asserts that the party's fundamental DNA is meritocracy, transparency, primary election, lateral entry, and equality. He stated that if the process of selecting candidates discards this fundamental DNA and resorts to a ritualistic process, it will be difficult to distinguish between old and new members.
‘If the party discards its fundamental DNA (meritocracy, transparency, primary election, lateral entry, equality) and moves towards a ritualistic process of candidate selection, it will certainly affect the party in the long run, and the difference between old and new will gradually disappear. If the party itself does not follow the rules, saying the country will run by rules is merely a daydream,’ he had said.
Acharya claimed that the failure to move forward according to the mandate of the extended central committee meeting of RSP held in Sauraha, Chitwan on Kartik 21 and 22, was due to the compulsion to reconcile all sides because of special circumstances that arose. RSP's Co-Spokesperson Pratibha Rawal also stated that the inability to follow rules and procedures was due to the compulsion to accommodate all factions that came into the unity process.
‘There was a compulsion to accommodate all factions that came into the unity process. In that process, those who worked within the party could not be included. Dissatisfaction seems to be an expression of that,’ she told Ratopati.
She mentioned that the trend of joining or leaving the party during elections is taken as normal. Rawal stated that the departure of members will not affect the overall election results.
This specific news has been automatically translated by AI. As a result, there may be some inaccuracies or language errors.
