Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) spokesperson Jagadish Kharel said on Wednesday in Lalitpur that the party must keep strengthening its ties with the public if it is to achieve further success in upcoming local-level elections. Kharel, who is also a member of the House of Representatives, said candidate selection should be transparent and based on merit, rather than on a leader’s personal discretion or access.
Public contact as a continuing priority
Kharel’s remarks placed public engagement at the centre of the party’s preparations for the local polls. He said the RSP needs to maintain and build its contact with people continuously, presenting that connection as important to the party’s prospects in future elections. His emphasis was on an ongoing relationship with the public, rather than contact limited to a campaign period.
The statement links the party’s electoral ambitions with its engagement beyond internal decision-making. Kharel said that further success would require the RSP to strengthen its ties with people. He did not describe a specific outreach programme in the remarks reported, but framed sustained public contact as a necessary part of the party’s work ahead of the local-level contests.
Local elections place attention on candidates who will represent parties in communities across the country. In that context, Kharel’s comments addressed both how the RSP should connect with voters and how it should choose those who will seek office under its banner. The two priorities, as presented in his remarks, are tied to the party’s effort to secure future electoral success.
Call for transparent candidate selection
Kharel also said that the practice of distributing election tickets according to a leader’s personal discretion or access had ended. He argued that candidates should instead be selected through a transparent, merit-based process. His comments set out a distinction between decisions shaped by an individual leader’s influence and selection grounded in clear criteria and the merits of prospective candidates.
The remarks make candidate selection an issue of party process as well as election strategy. A transparent approach, as Kharel described it, would move away from ticket allocation based on who has access to a leader. His call for merit-based selection signals that candidates’ qualifications should matter in the process, although the reported remarks do not specify particular criteria or a selection mechanism.
By addressing the way tickets are distributed, Kharel raised a question that directly affects prospective candidates and the party’s local election preparations. His statement was that the previous practice had ended and that transparency and merit should guide selection. He did not announce a timetable or outline new rules in the remarks reported, leaving the central message focused on the principles he said should apply.
Party preparations ahead of local polls
Taken together, Kharel’s comments identify two priorities for the RSP: keeping close contact with the public and making candidate selection transparent and merit-based. Both relate to how the party approaches the upcoming local-level elections, one through its relationship with voters and the other through the people it chooses to represent it.
Kharel made the remarks in Lalitpur on Wednesday in his capacity as the RSP’s spokesperson and a House of Representatives member. His message was directed toward the party’s continuing work ahead of the local polls, with public ties and the process for distributing tickets as its central themes. The comments did not provide further details about election plans, but underscored his call for sustained public engagement and a change away from leader-driven ticket decisions.
