Internal dispute puts NUP out of Rupandehi-3 by-polls

KATHMANDU: The Nagarik Unmukti Party (NUP) has been ruled out from contesting in the Rupandehi-3 by-elections after failing to complete its registration due to internal disputes.

Despite securing the backing of six parties within the United Democratic Madhesi Front (UDMF), NUP could not complete registration with the Election Commission to enter the electoral race.

According to the Election Commission (EC), the party failed to submit the required documents during the application window between August 6 and 27. Out of 27 parties that filed applications for party registration during the period, only NUP’s application was rejected.

Durga Prasad Chalise, assistant spokesperson for the EC, said they rejected NUP’s application as it was incomplete. “The NUP had applied for party registration to contest the by-election. However, several documents were missing,” Chalise told Himal Press over the phone. “When we requested them to submit the necessary documents, they could not.”

NUP could not provide the necessary documents due to the ongoing row over party leadership. The party is divided into two factions led by Patron Resham Lal Chaudhary and Chairperson Ranjita Shrestha. Interestingly, Ranjita is Resham’s wife.

Last month, Resham removed Ranjita as the party’s chairperson through a national gathering of the party and appointed his father, Lalbir Chaudhary, to the position. However, the EC had refused to recognize Lalbir as NUP Chairperson.

Both factions had submitted separate applications to the EC for party registration. However, both factions failed to submit a formal decision of the party’s central committee to register the party for the by-election.

Ranjita has accused the party patron Chaudhary of engineering the debacle in the party. “Because of the patron’s ploy, our party will not be able to contest in the Rupandehi-3 by-election. He staged conspiracies to block the central committee meeting,” Ranjita told Himal Press. “Although the Front had supported the NUP, the patron treated the party as his personal property.”

She added that NUP may still contest in the by-election by fielding an independent candidate with backing from the Front.

In the 2022 general election, NUP secured fourth position in Rupandehi-3 by polling 4,751 votes.

Deepak Bohara of RPP won the election with 36,717 votes, while Nepali Congress leader Bal Krishna Khand came second with 34,036 and Rastriya Swatantra Party’s Jit Bahadur Gupta came third with 5,796.

The seat became vacant after Bohora passed away in April after a prolonged illness.