Chitwan, June 24 -- Sixteen members aligned with Prime Minister Balendra Shah's faction in the Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) have opted out of the central committee election and are expected to enter the party leadership through nomination.

The group is part of 26 individuals from the Shah camp who joined the party following a pre-election understanding between RSP chair Rabi Lamichhane and Shah.

While some members, including elected lawmakers, have filed nominations for the ongoing internal elections, the rest have not registered their candidacies.

Those who did not file nominations include Sunil Lamsal, Bhoop Dev Shah, Laxman Tharu, Ramesh Paudel, Santosh Giri, Sarita Gyawali, James Karki, Laxmi Bardewa, Anantaraj Ghimire, Ramkumar ...