Kathmandu, Sept. 2 -- The Rastriya Swatantra Party on Sunday selected Lekh Jung Thapa as its candidate for Rupandehi-3 by-election. Thapa was selected through a primary election conducted last Friday and Saturday.

The RSP has considered the Rupandehi-3 by-poll closely tied to its prestige because the party's chairman, Rabi Lamichhane, was held in Rupandehi prison in judicial custody for a few months over the cooperative fraud case. Now he has been transferred to Nakkhu jail in Lalitpur.

The party did not conduct a primary for previous by-polls. In the case of Rupandehi-3, the party chose Thapa, from Siddharthanagar Municipality-9, as its candidate through voting.

However, as soon as Thapa was selected for the candidacy, he courted cont...