RSP to hold primary election in Rupandehi-3 to select candidate for by-election

KATHMANDU: The Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) has decided to conduct a primary election on Kartik 17 to select its candidate for the upcoming by-election in Rupandehi Constituency-3.

The decision comes after consensus efforts among nine aspirants failed.

On Sunday, the party held discussions with all nine hopefuls in an attempt to agree on a single consensus candidate.

However, each participant insisted that the nominee be chosen through a democratic process, leading the party to opt for a primary election instead.

The party had set a withdrawal deadline of 5 PM on Monday, but no aspirant withdrew their candidacy. As a result, all nine will now compete in the primary.

The RSP’s Central Election Commission is preparing to publish the preliminary candidate list shortly, pending formal confirmation from the commission regarding withdrawals.

RSP Deputy General Secretary and Rupandehi in-charge Bipin Kumar Acharya said the final preliminary list will be published only after receiving the official report from the election commission.

From Shrawan 7 to 21, the party opened applications for the ticket, requiring a fee of Rs. 25,000.

Nine individuals submitted applications:

• Sulabh Kharel (Butwal-16)

• Parthibendra Upadhyay (Siddharthanagar-7)

• Dr. Lekh Jung Thapa (Siddharthanagar-9)

• Gyanu Paudyal (Siddharthanagar-8)

• Jeet Bahadur Gupta (Siddharthanagar-1)

• Kusum Maharjan (Siddharthanagar-8)

• Rachana Chhetri (Siddharthanagar-3)

• Poonam Kumari Agrawal (Siddharthanagar-8)

• Madhu Prasad Aryal (Butwal-17)

The by-election in Rupandehi-3 was triggered by the death of Rastriya Prajatantra Party (RPP) leader Deepak Bohora, who had won the seat in the 2079 general election.

RSP had finished third in the constituency at the time. This year, the party appears focused on a systematic selection process to field a strong candidate capable of securing victory.