Voting Suspended After Dispute in RSP Bagmati Convention

Voting under the Rastriya Swatantra Party Bagmati Province convention began at around 1 am on Tuesday night but was suspended shortly after a dispute broke out. According to the election schedule, four candidates were contesting for the post of chairperson, while 88 candidates had filed nominations for member positions. Achyutam Lamichhane, Utsav Aryal, Krishnaman Shrestha and Haribahadur Chhetri were in the race for the chairperson post. The election committee had finalized the voter list and started voting after publishing the final list of candidates for chairperson. However, the election process was suspended within about 30 minutes of voting.

Voting had started at around 1:30 am Tuesday night, and only about five people had voted before the process was stopped. The election committee then postponed the program until 8 am Wednesday and left the convention venue. The convention was held at Himalayan Darbar in Hetauda-1. During the second phase of the election process, a dispute arose after participants claimed that the voter list and candidate names from Bhaktapur were not disclosed. Workers and voters became angry after allegations that candidate names under the electoral constituency cluster were missing. Angry voters and party workers tore ballot papers and shouted slogans. Since the suspension, the election process has not resumed, and officials from the organizing committee and election committee have not been seen at the convention venue.