Rastriya Swatantra Party Gorkha Palika Convention Faces Dispute

Gorkha. A dispute has arisen in the Sahid Lakhan Rural Municipality of Gorkha under the Palika Convention of the Rastriya Swatantra Party. Dissatisfaction has been expressed, alleging that the candidate for chairman himself conducted the convention by violating rules and procedures.

In the convention, Pushpakar Lamichhane, Manoj Shrestha, and Amrit Shrestha had filed candidacies for the Palika Chairman. Although an attempt was made for consensus among the candidates, it was unsuccessful, and it was decided to select the leadership through the election process. However, candidate Manoj Shrestha alleged that the voting and counting took place without informing the candidates.

Out of a total of 185 voters in the Palika, 134 cast their votes. However, Shrestha claims that individuals who were not even party members were brought in as representatives and fake votes were cast in the election. 'People who are not even party members have voted. A candidate was fraudulently created by using two different surnames for the same person,' he said.

The dissenting faction also alleges that not only the voting process but also the counting was rigged. According to Shrestha, the ballot boxes from the voting held in Sahid Lakhan Rural Municipality were taken elsewhere for counting instead of being counted there.

He stated that the ballot boxes were taken without the presence of the candidate or their representatives and without preparing any minutes, and the results were announced unilaterally. He demands that all processes be nullified, stating that the Election Committee and the party have not followed any bylaws or procedures.

It is reported that Pushpakar Lamichhane has been elected as the chairman through the vote count. Out of the 134 votes cast, Lamichhane received 93 votes, while the closest competitor Amrit Shrestha received 40, and another candidate Manoj received 2 votes.

Rajeshwar Angai, Joint Secretary of the District and representative of the Election Committee, states that the ballot boxes were taken to the district safely and counted under the supervision of the Election Committee. 'We have completed the election by following the bylaws. Regarding the counting, it was taken to the District Party Office in the presence of representatives from the center and the province,' he said.

The Election Committee was formed under the convenorship of Hari Dhital, a member of the Provincial Secretariat. Harisharan Acharya, a leader who participated in the convention, said that a dispute is being created over a minor incident. 'The election is in all processes. After the voting started, one friend said he wanted to withdraw his candidacy,' he said, 'It was not permissible to do so after the voting started. The other allegations are baseless.' According to him, after the dispute arose, the ballot boxes were safely taken to the district for counting.