Rastriya Swatantra Party Bagmati Province Convention Postponed Due to Management Issues

Makwanpur. The Bagmati Province convention of the Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) has been temporarily postponed. The central election committee of RSP stated that the election process had to be temporarily halted due to technical and managerial reasons.

The election program, which began on Tuesday, was postponed until 8 AM on Wednesday. The election program was halted after some errors were found in the ballot papers and voter list. After 5 votes were cast, leaders and cadres protested, citing errors in the voter list and ballot papers. Amidst this situation, the election committee had postponed the election program until 8 AM on Wednesday. However, as the election program could not be advanced even by 10 AM, it has been postponed.

The RSP Election Committee stated that the election has been stopped to correct the ballot papers, technically finalize the voter list, address the complaints and disputes in the adjustment list of approximately 400 individuals, and add necessary manpower to the provincial election committee to facilitate the election process. The Election Committee stated that it will issue a notice providing sufficient time to participate in the re-voting process.

Weak Management and Poor Performance

In the convention organized by the outgoing committee of RSP Bagmati, the organizers and the committee's officials themselves were not responsible. Achyutam Lamsal, the chairman of the committee and a Member of Parliament elected from Nuwakot, stepped away from his responsibilities, stating that the responsibility after the open session would lie with the Election Committee. The Election Committee's work and the open session of the convention were taking place in the same hall, and the closed-door session's program was being advanced within the open session itself.

Lamsal had been stating that he was unaware of the coordinator and members of the Election Committee formed for the election.

When the Election Committee dissolved the then-committee and posted the notice for the election program, it was already past 1 PM. The election-related program, scheduled to start at 11 AM, had an official letter posted at 1 PM, which set the final voter list deadline at 1:15 PM. However, the Election Committee was struggling to finalize the voter list even late into the night.

The Election Committee led by Sumitra Pandit had set the program for calling nominations from 1:15 PM to 2:45 PM, but nominations were registered only at 9 PM. The committee had called for nominations at 9 PM without even publishing a revised election schedule. Even at the stage of becoming candidates, the Election Committee was unclear about the selection of representatives for the convention.

Hemraj Pokharel, a member of the Election Committee, informed that there were 957 representatives entered in RSP's online portal, and with an additional 100 added later and another 167, there would be approximately 1,200 representatives as voters. While gathering information on this matter, candidates were still registering their nominations, and voting had not yet been decided.

The Election Committee had been working from within the open hall. The Election Committee, chaired by Pandit, had 5 members, including Pokharel, Deepa Lamichhane, and 2 other members. Coordinator Pandit stated that Shankar Shrestha from RSP's Organization Department had facilitated them. She mentioned that RSP's Bagmati Province organizing committee, local committee, and top leadership did not provide the expected managerial support.

She complained that despite the participation of more than three dozen MPs and central members, they did not receive support in determining and managing voters for the convention. She also stated that it was difficult to work due to the lack of manpower in technical and managerial roles within the Election Committee.

'I am going to Kathmandu after finishing the convention,' Pandit said, 'I have carried forward the work according to my responsibilities. The friends in my committee also tried their best, but there were problems due to some managerial and technical shortcomings. We did not receive the expected support from the organizers.'

She complained that the Election Committee's workspace was set up in a corner of the same hall where the open and closed sessions were held, questioning how time would be sufficient when the program scheduled for 8 AM started only at 12 PM.

According to another member of the Election Committee, they were unable to finalize the details of the representatives who came for the convention. He stated that there was a problem in managing the representatives who came through adjustment and the old representatives. He mentioned that managing the complaints against the representatives was challenging due to the lack of technical staff. Therefore, he stated that disputes arose because they could not differentiate candidates by region, cluster, and district.

Meanwhile, RSP's youth network 'Chat Force' was visibly active. This force, which was deployed in the role of volunteers and security arrangements during the election and convention, was seen interfering in the responsibilities of the Election Committee. The force was active in the selection of representatives and the nomination or management of candidates.