Complaints have been filed alleging irregularities in the primary election conducted by the Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) to select its candidate for Rupandehi Constituency No. 3.
A party leader told Setopati that complaints were lodged at the RSP’s central office in Chamati, Kathmandu, stating that even members from Rupandehi 3 were unable to vote on the day the primary election was conducted.
According to the leader, party workers from the constituency using Android mobile phones were unable to vote for half the day on Friday.
Only 42.08 percent of votes were cast over a 12-hour period on Friday. The constituency has a total of 2,778 eligible voters, including 2,716 party members and the central working committee. Among them, only 1,169 votes were cast on Friday.
The voting period extended until Saturday evening.
The party’s election committee has not yet publicly disclosed the total number of votes cast. However, according to one party leader, only 56 percent of the votes were cast, which amounts to around 1,556 voters out of the total.
A central member told Setopati that not even half of the central members voted in the primary election.
“I too couldn’t vote initially. The system said that I wasn’t a voter of Rupandehi 3 as it was not my constituency. I was able to vote only after changing my password later,” the central member said. “Since I knew how to change the password, it was easier for me, but those who didn’t know the process couldn’t vote.”
The leader said that it was unclear whether the system malfunctioned or if this was a planned move.
We also asked one of the nine aspiring candidates, Punam Kumari Agrawal, about the issue.
She said complaints were received stating that even some ward committee presidents could not vote.
“The president of Siddharthanagar Municipality Ward No. 9 has complained that he couldn’t vote. Our party is new. It’s yet to be determined whether this was a system issue or something else,” she said.
She added that while party workers raised concerns about not being able to vote, she was unaware if formal complaints had been filed.
Another aspiring candidate from Rupandehi 3, Parthivendra Upadhyaya, also confirmed that complaints were filed regarding problems in the system.
“Only one vote is supposed to be cast from a single mobile, but there are complaints that the app was not downloaded on some people’s phones and they couldn’t vote,” he said. “I’m aware that complaints were filed with the party regarding this, but I don’t know exactly how many filed complaints. The party secretariat will likely make a decision on this.”
According to a local leader, some members who registered online were unable to vote because local leaders withheld their usernames and passwords.
Additionally, some members with different usernames but the same password were unable to vote due to system restrictions.
“Some members with different usernames but the same password couldn’t vote, and the system apparently told others that they had already voted,” the leader said. “The party will likely investigate whether the system was designed this way by central leaders or this was a technical issue.”
Furthermore, the system initially did not display the name of aspiring candidate Sulabh Kharel. His name remained absent until the last moment before the primary election on Friday, sparking debates among central leaders.
We also spoke with leaders at the secretariat level about this matter.
They said that the issue has been made a subject of internal investigation after problems were found with the system.
“It has also been reported to party President Rabi Lamichhane, who is currently in Nakkhu Jail, that fewer votes were cast due to some system flaws,” a secretariat leader said.
The RSP has said that it will finalize its candidate for Rupandehi 3 on Sunday. Spokesperson Manish Jha told Setopati that the party’s secretariat meeting began on Sunday at 5 p.m.
RSP’s Acting President Dol Prasad Aryal had visited Nakkhu Jail to meet party President Lamichhane during the time scheduled previously for the secretariat meeting. Meanwhile, all nine aspiring candidates collectively met Lamichhane on Sunday morning.
During the meeting, Lamichhane assured the aspirants that those who were not selected this time would be included in future elections and instructed them to work toward ensuring a favorable outcome for the party.
