KATHMANDU: The Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) has issued a formal clarification following public concerns over data from its first general convention, which suggested the party had 35,257 members under the age of 18.

RSP General Secretary Bipin Acharya explained that this figure was a misinterpretation of raw, unverified data from preliminary online applications rather than official membership records.

The party emphasized that its policies strictly align with the Constitution of Nepal and national laws, which prohibit granting political membership to minors.

According to the RSP, the inflated number was caused by applicant data-entry mistakes, such as mixing up the Bikram Sambat (BS) and Gregorian (AD) calendars or accidentally entering the current date instead of a birth date.

To address the issue, the RSP has initiated a comprehensive technical and administrative review of its digital membership system.

The system will automatically block applicants under 18, and any mistakenly approved memberships will be immediately canceled, RSP says.

Expressing regret over the confusion caused to the public, media, and stakeholders—including the National Human Rights Commission, which had requested an official inquiry—the RSP pledged to publish corrected and fully verified statistics shortly.