Most office bearers of the Rastriya Janata Party-Nepal have spoken for participation in the upcoming phase of local level elections in Province 2, suggesting that the leadership launch necessary preparations for the same.

The two-day meeting of the RJP-N office bearers started here on Tuesday, following the defeat of the constitution amendment bill in Parliament on Monday.

The party leaders earlier told Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba and ruling coalition leaders that they would follow “the rules of the game” and accept the outcome of the vote on the amendment bill. According to RJP-N General Secretary Keshav Jha, party chief Mahantha Thakur presented a five-point agenda: strategy after failure of the amendment proposal, criteria for candidate selection, choice of vote symbol, and poll preparation committees.

Leaders including Manish Suman, Surendra Mishra and Devendra Yadav, however, said the party must not join the elections. Instead, they suggested that the party’s lawmakers should resign and launch a decisive struggle.

However, leaders including Laxman Lal Karna, Nilam Verma, Pradip Shumsher Rana and Jitendra Sonal strongly supported the calls for going to the polls.

Out of the 133 office bearers in total, 98 were present in Tuesday’s session. As many as 53 of them aired their views on the first day. The meeting also thanked all the parties who voted for the amendment proposal. The RJP-N termed the parties voting against the bill as “undemocratic” and “discriminatory” forces that did not want national unity.