Bharatpur, June 23 -- Paraswar Kandel, a 75-year-old delegate of the Rastriya Swatantra Party, travelled from Baglung to help choose the party's new leadership. Instead, he spent five hours in Chitwan's sweltering 36-degree Celsius heat on Monday waiting for the closed session to begin.

Like many others, Kandel hoped for a cooling shower similar to Sunday's rain while anxiously awaiting the start of the voting process. Heavy rain eventually arrived at around 5pm, bringing some relief from the heat, but the closed session remained stalled.

"I came here thinking this was an opportunity to select the right teammates for Rabi Lamichhane and Balendra Shah," Kandel said. "I came to vote for a new leadership, but after waiting all day, I didn'...