Lamichhane Files Chitwan-2 Nomination Amid Court Hurdles

Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) Chairman Rabi Lamichhane submitted his candidacy for the March 5 House of Representatives election from Chitwan-2.

However, he could not file the nomination in person and submitted it through a proxy letter signed by Sita Gyawali, chairperson of the party’s Bharatpur Metropolitan City unit. 

Deputy Election Officer Deviram Bhandari of the Chief Election Officer’s Office in Chitwan confirmed that the nomination was filed through a power of attorney. Bikram Shrestha proposed and Ramji Thakuri seconded the nomination.

Lamichhane spent most of the day attending proceedings in Parsa District Court related to a cooperative fraud case. The court has demanded Rs 10 million bail from him. He took to social media to express his frustration, writing that the public would “settle the account” on election day. 

Lamichhane will compete against Meena Kharel of the Nepali Congress, Ashwin Ghimire of the CPN-UML, and Pratap Gurung of the Nepali Communist Party. He has previously won the constituency twice, with landslide victories. Chitwan-2 has 137,152 registered voters, 48 polling stations, and 152 polling centres.

In a separate development, the Supreme Court issued a show-cause order on a writ petition challenging the Office of the Attorney General’s decision to withdraw money laundering and organised crime charges against Lamichhane. A bench led by Justice Abdul Azeez Musalman issued the order on Tuesday evening and summoned both parties to discuss the possibility of an interim order.

The court has directed the Attorney General’s Office to submit a written response within 15 days and appear for further proceedings. On January 14, Attorney General Sabita Bhandari approved the withdrawal of money laundering and organised crime charges against Lamichhane.

The writ petition argued that the decision was illegal and sought its annulment, requesting an interim order to halt implementation until a final verdict. While in custody, Lamichhane had filed an application seeking the withdrawal of the charges, claiming the prosecution was politically motivated.

The Attorney General’s decision stated that fraud and cooperative fraud charges would remain in the cases before the Kaski, Kathmandu, Rupandehi, Parsa, and Chitwan district courts. However, approval was granted to amend the indictment so that organised crime and money laundering charges would not be maintained.