A dispute over vote counting has cast a shadow over the first district convention of the Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) in Dailekh, with concerns emerging over discrepancies between the number of ballots reportedly cast and the votes received by candidates in the race for district chairperson.
The issue surfaced shortly after the convention concluded on Sunday. Voting was held after party members failed to reach a consensus on leadership selection. The election committee announced that 240 votes had been cast for the chairperson election. However, when the votes received by all four candidates were added together, the total reached 246, creating a six-vote discrepancy and triggering immediate concerns among participants.
Bakhat Bahadur Bhandari was declared elected as district chairperson with 93 votes. His rivals, Prakash Budha, Bini Bahadur Shahi and Mitraraj Pyakurel, received 69, 43 and 41 votes respectively. The combined tally exceeded the official vote count announced by the election committee.
The dispute has raised broader questions about election management inside a party that has consistently presented itself as a champion of transparency, accountability and good governance. For many local members, the controversy is no longer limited to a numerical mismatch but has become a test of how the party handles internal scrutiny.
Party Office Locked Amid Demand for Investigation
Following the announcement of the results, chairperson candidate Prakash Budha locked the party’s district office.
In a statement shared through social media, Budha said he feared election-related documents could be altered or tampered with before the matter was properly investigated. He argued that the lockout was intended to preserve evidence until the facts surrounding the vote count were clarified.
Budha has demanded an impartial investigation and said he would be willing to reopen the office if party leaders provided a clear commitment to a fair inquiry. He also stressed that transparency and good governance should be reflected in practice rather than remaining political slogans.
Election Committee Defends the Process
The election committee has rejected suggestions of wrongdoing and maintains that the voting process was conducted fairly and systematically.
Committee officials say all election-related documents have already been handed over to the party office and insist there is no reason to question the integrity of the process. They have not, however, publicly explained the six-vote difference between the announced turnout and the total votes received by candidates.
Attention has now shifted to decisions expected from district and central party leadership. Until a clear explanation is provided regarding the conflicting vote figures, the dispute is unlikely to fade quickly inside the party’s Dailekh organization.
