Parashwar Kandel, a 75-year-old general convention delegate who came from Baglung to elect a new leadership of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) party, had been waiting for the closed session to begin for five hours in the 36-degree heat of Chitwan. On one hand, there was hope that it would rain on Monday like on Sunday, and on the other hand, there was anticipation of when the voting to elect a new leadership would begin. It cooled down after a heavy rain around 5 pm, but the closed session did not begin.

‘I had come thinking that it was an opportunity to elect a charioteer for Ravi-Walen,’ Kandel said, ‘I had come to vote to elect a new leadership, but even after waiting all day, I did not get that opportunity.’ Like Kandel, hundreds of general convention delegates who had come to Bharatpur from all over the country to elect a new leadership of the RSP had to spend the whole day waiting as the closed session was repeatedly postponed.

The main dispute is the selection of representatives from Madhesh Province, the largest number of claims and protests in the name of 592 representatives from Madhesh. The general convention delegates who spoke to Kantipur said that they had to sit in the scorching sun all day due to poor party management and factional politics. ‘There is no management of the secretariat to get information, no one answered anything,’ said a delegate who went from Kavre, ‘This has only become a source of trouble.’

According to leaders and activists, the closed session of the party, which was supposed to be held on Monday, did not take place after the issue of selecting representatives for the general convention fell into dispute. The dispute is not only related to the technical issue of selecting representatives, the proposal to add at least 800 more general convention delegates to include the Balendra Shah faction, the Bibeksheel Sajha Party faction, and the Tharuhat/Tharuwan Andolan faction that came under the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) party integration has reached President Ravi Lamichhane.

According to informed sources, after the dispute escalated, Chairman Lamichhane and senior leader Shah, who is also the Prime Minister, have been in discussions at the Latauli Century Resort in Shaktikhor since Monday afternoon. A leader informed that both will discuss and resolve the dispute.

An MP from Koshi Province said that the management is extremely weak. ‘This matter should have been resolved earlier, considering the last minute, everyone had to suffer in this heat,’ he said. After the closed session of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) that was supposed to start at 8:30 in the morning did not start until 3:30, some representatives started sleeping in the hall. No one was allowed to enter the main hall of the closed session amid tight security, while representatives slept in the hall designated for nomination registration.

General Convention representative Ramesh Adhikari said that he was surprised that the closed session did not start for a long time. ‘I came to vote, but I had to wait,’ he told Kantipur, ‘but, waiting in the summer was very difficult.’

The RSVP Central Election Committee announced the postponement of the election only at 6:45 pm.’ Central Election Commission Deputy Chief Ram Gurung said that the problem was created by the claims and objections that came after the release of the preliminary list of general convention delegates on Sunday evening. ‘The general convention was held immediately after the provincial convention, and the problem arose when the names of some of the delegates who should have been included in the delegation were left out due to technical reasons,’ he told Kantipur. ‘According to the legal provisions, after the preliminary list of delegates is released, 24 hours should be given for objections, investigation and verification. That matter has taken time.’

According to RSVP Central Member Rajan Gautam, the main dispute started with the selection of delegates for Madhesh Province. According to the leaders, the maximum number of claims and objections have been received in the name of 592 delegates from Madhesh. ‘Some of the names of the elected general convention representatives were not visible, and different people were also seen,’ he said, ‘and it became a situation that would take time to verify.’ Leaders say that the names of those who were taken action by the party were also included in the general convention representatives.

The closed session could not begin even after the new names of at least 800 more general convention representatives were announced to include the Balendra Shah faction, the Bibeksheel Sajha Party faction, and the Tharuhat/Tharuwan Andolan faction that came under the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) party integration. In Madhesh, where the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) got 57.33 percent of the votes in the proportional representation election, the party was unable to hold its convention in any district except Parsa due to internal disputes. The convention was held in Parsa amid beatings and tension. After the district failed to select a new leadership, the RSS had selected the general convention representatives on the basis of an ad hoc committee. In such a situation, the representatives came to the general convention being held in Chitwan on the basis of the ad hoc committee and the municipal convention, says Ranjit Ram, the leader of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) Madhesh Province. ‘Representatives have been designated on an earlier basis from the district committee and the provincial committee,’ he told Kantipur, ‘592 representatives have arrived from Madhesh after nominating some of the rest.’

Leaders say that the RSS, which won 30 out of 32 seats in Madhesh in the elections held on 21 Falgun, could not hold the convention due to internal disputes, friction between those who were active in the party from the beginning and those who joined later. In the course of that dispute, there was even a fight between leaders and cadres in various districts.

The RSSS district presidents of all 8 districts of Madhesh province wanted to repeat their posts. In Parsa, the only district where the convention was held, District President Hari Pant has been involved in fights and tension. The district presidents of Madhesh province had even filed a complaint with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSSVA) Central Committee, saying that the convention was affected because the RSVPA's provincial president Tapeshwor Yadav had hugged an ethnic group and a person close to him.

Before the general convention, RSVPA President Lamichhane had tried to resolve the dispute by meeting with Madhesh leaders. However, the dispute has reached the general convention. RSVPA spokesperson Manish Jha recalled that in the 2079 BS elections, the RSVPA had received a total of 72,000 votes in Madhesh and said that the problem was that the organization's expansion was delayed due to the sudden increase in attraction after the elections.

Rameshwor Yadav, who came as a general convention representative from Siraha, said that although it would have been better if he had been able to attend the convention, he participated because the center arranged it immediately. ‘There was no question of depriving anyone from the convention, a circular came from the center to make everyone participate and we have come as representatives immediately,’ he said, ‘I hope the convention will be held soon.’

According to RSVP central member Gautam, along with the dispute in Madhesh, disputes began to be seen in the selection of general convention representatives elsewhere. ‘There was a problem mainly in Madhesh province, after that, problems started to be heard from other provinces as well,’ he added, ‘It took time because the membership number and minutes had to be checked.’

Although the list of general convention representatives has not been finalized, aspirants for the post of central member have already started asking for votes at the closed session venue. For the post of central member, E. Birendra Shrestha, Lumbini Province Geography Gyanu Paudyal, Bharat Prasad Paneru, Hemraj Thapa, Ramesh Prasad Ojha, Krishna Bahadur Batala, Amrita BK, Janika Joshi, Gunananda Mahato, Tanka Bahadur Dhami and others distributed such propaganda at the general convention venue. The election committee had prohibited such propaganda distribution.

RSVP spokesperson Manish Jha has also announced his candidacy for the post of general secretary. Education Minister Sasmit Khanal, Agriculture Minister Geeta Chaudhary, MP Prakash Chandra Pariyar, KP Khanal, Jwala Sangraula, Yagyamani Neupane, Nisha Dangi, Tasi Lhajom and others have announced their candidacy for the post of central member.

RSVP Joint General Secretary Bipin Acharya, however, says that the party code of conduct does not allow candidates to be announced before the representatives are finalized. ‘The Election Commission is probably also looking into the issue of distributing campaign cards to candidates,’ he said, ‘the Election Commission will definitely take care of the procedures to be followed in this regard.’

Acharya said that the remaining cards of the general convention delegates will be printed overnight on Monday and distributed from 7 am. He said that the closed session will begin as soon as the card distribution is completed.

According to the RSVP leaders, although the unanimous leadership of Ravi Lamichhane and Balendra Shah as the senior leader is certain, there is a possibility of competition for the remaining office bearers and 99 central member posts. President Lamichhane and senior leader Shah themselves have addressed the inaugural session, saying that the competition should be fair.

Among the three vice-presidents, one will be open, one woman and one nominated. RSVP leaders say that Swarnim Wagle is the strong contender for the open vice-president position. There is no one to compete with Swarnim Wagle for the open vice-president position. In that case, leaders say that there is a strong possibility of elections for women vice-presidents, general secretaries and joint general secretaries among the office bearers. However, efforts are being made to reach an agreement on the posts of women vice-presidents, general secretaries and joint general secretaries.

This time, the number of office bearers in the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh has been increased to 19 by amending the statute. Earlier, this number was 12. If an election is held for women vice-presidents, Law Minister Sobita Gautam, Treasurer Lima Adhikari, and General Administration Minister Pratibha Rawal are possible candidates. There is talk of Dr. Toshima Karki being a possible candidate for one of the posts of vice-presidents or general secretaries. Preparations are underway to give the responsibility of nominated vice-president to leader Sunil Lamsal, who is handling the Ministry of Physical Infrastructure. He is a leader who joined the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh along with Shah.

If no consensus is reached for the open general secretary, outgoing general secretaries Kabindra Burlakoti, Bipin Acharya, Shishir Khanal, Manish Jha, Ganesh Parajuli, and Yagyamani Neupane are likely to become candidates. Dr. Karki is also being considered as a candidate for the general secretary if no candidacy is filed for the women's vice president. Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh leaders say that Bhupdev Shah is almost certain to be the nominated general secretary.

Leaders have said that Hari Dhakal and Prakash Chandra Pariyar are among the contenders for the open joint general secretary position so far. Leader Asim Shah is also a possible candidate for the joint general secretary position. He is also a former MP and political advisor to Prime Minister Shah. Nisha Dangi and other possible candidates for the women's joint general secretary position.

This time, the number of office bearers in the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh has been increased to 19 by amending the statute. Earlier, this number was 12. This time, after amending the statute, the office bearers are: President 1, Senior Leader 1, Vice President 3 (1 woman and 1 nominee), General Secretary 2 (1 nominee), Joint General Secretary 5 (1 woman, 2 nominees), Spokesperson 1, Joint Spokesperson 3 (1 woman), Treasurer 1, Joint Treasurer 2 (1 woman).

RSP Central Election Commission Chief Bhuwan KC claimed that the names of all the representatives had been finalized by Monday evening. ‘It is not difficult to finalize the list of MPs, so we first moved towards completing the representatives of the provinces and districts,’ he told Kantipur, ‘But the MPs said that they did not have their names, so we did it later because it was an easy task.’