The first general convention of the ruling Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) has been extended by at least one day.
The extension comes after the closed-door session and election-related programs scheduled for Monday were postponed. The convention was originally scheduled to run from June 21 to 23.
Party spokesperson Manish Jha said that the convention will now continue until Wednesday, June 24.
The primary reason for the extension is the failure to finalize the list of delegates, which prevented the election program and the closed session from starting on time on Monday.
Throughout Monday, general convention delegates were seen seek corrections, claiming that their names had been omitted from the list. Revisions to the list, which had been published before the inaugural session, are still ongoing.
The most chaotic situation involves general convention delegates from Madhes province. A party leader said that there is still uncertainty over who qualifies as a delegate. More than 100 complaints have been filed against delegates from the province.
Some lawmakers are also among those whose names were omitted. One lawmaker from Koshi province said, "Apparently, even my name was missing from the list."
The RSP has 182 lawmakers in the House of delegates. According to the party statute, lawmakers who are not part of the general convention organizing committee automatically qualify as general convention delegates. However, several lawmakers, including those Setopati talked to, have found their names missing from the list. These lawmakers are currently filing claims and objections to have their names included.
Moreover, not all confirmed delegates have received their identification cards, which are required to enter the closed session hall.
According to the party's election commission chief, Bhuwan KC, 3,000 delegate cards have so far been printed, and distribution was scheduled to begin at 7 p.m. on Monday.
According to the latest update, the party had published a list of more than 4,000 general convention delegates.
Under the original election schedule, nomination forms for the first phase of elections (for party chairperson and central members) were to be distributed by the election commission’s contact office from 1 p.m. on Monday.
Candidate registration was scheduled to take place between 2 p.m. and 4 p.m., with the preliminary list of candidates set to be published at 8 p.m.
With Monday's programs postponed, the first phase of voting, originally scheduled for Tuesday from 8:30 a.m. to 3 p.m., has also been automatically postponed.
KC said that a revised election schedule will be published on Tuesday morning.
