Time To End Political Anomalies

As the November 20 election to the House of Representatives (HoR) and Provincial Assemblies is coming closer, an election fever has gripped the nation. Candidates belonging to different political parties and independent contestants filed their candidacies for the first-past-the-post (FPTP) voting in election offices across the country on Sunday (October 9). The poll will elect a total of 275 members of the Lower House of federal parliament. Of them, 165 are elected under the FPTP electoral system while the remaining 110 are voted on the basis of proportional representation (PR).  Just before the Dashain festival, the parties had submitted their revised lists of nominees for the PR category to the Election Commission (EC). Under this system, the entire nation is considered as a sole constituency and votes are counted accordingly.

The Constitution of Nepal, 2015 has fixed a total of 550 provincial seats in all the seven provinces nationwide. Sixty per cent (330) of provincial assembly members are elected through the FPTP system while the rest of 40 per cent (220) are chosen based on the PR system. Unlike the federal parliament, provincial legislature is unicameral, which differs in size as per the population of province.

Alliance

As usual, the political parties had tough times selecting their candidates from among many aspirants this time as well. However, many rebels from various political parties have registered their candidacies across the nation. Several leaders from various political forces have joined another party after having denied a ticket. The ruling alliance was able to finalise its seat-sharing deal at the eleventh hour. Its constituents — Nepali Congress, CPN-Maoist Centre, CPN-Unified Socialist and  Rastriya Janamorcha Nepal — had to hold many rounds of meeting before sorting out the issue. It is remarkable that the Janata Samajbadi Party (JSP), led by Upendra Yadav, has forged an election alliance with the CPN-UML by severing its ties from the governing coalition. 

The JSP has taken this step as it was not satisfied with the number of seats the party had been offered for the upcoming polls. Yadav was one of the strong opponents of UML chair and former prime minister KP Sharma Oli after the latter took the unconstitutional step of dissolving the HoR twice. The fresh intimacy between Yadav and Oli is an indicative of the fact that everything is possible in politics. Meanwhile, the Loktantrik Samajbadi Party (LSP), headed by Mahantha Thakur, has struck an agreement with the ruling alliance targeting the impending polls. The NC is also going through internal problems despite several attempts made to resolve them.

The UML has also decided to support Ratriya Prajatantra Party-Nepal’s Kamal Thapa, who is contesting for a HoR seat from Makawanpur-1. To challenge the ruling coalition in the elections, the UML is joining forces with the Rastriya Prajatantra Party (RPP), which is led by Rajendra Lingden, in most constituencies nationwide. It has also included Ek Nath Dhakal of Nepal Pariwar Dal on its PR list. But the UML leadership has sidelined several influential leaders, including Bhim Rawal and Ghanshyam Bhusal, disheartening many cadres and well-wishers.  

Looking at nominations from different political parties for both the federal and provincial legislature seats, old faces seem to have dominations over new ones. Youth leaders from various parties have been lobbying for the transfer of party leaderships to young generations. But even the septuagenarians and octogenarians have continued showing their interest in active politics. Undoubtedly, periodic elections are the cornerstone of democracy as they offer an opportunity for voters to vote candidates of their choice. But the growing tendency among old generations to hold positions in parties and government is hampering the process of transferring leadership to the young and energetic lots.

It is sad that the dedicated and honest politicians seem to have begun showing their disinterest in politics even after the introduction of the federal system of governance in the country. Elections should have brought a lot of cheers and enthusiasm to general people but they have failed to do so due to various political anomalies witnessed in the country. One of the reasons for this is that genuine and deserving persons hardly get a ticket to contest elections. Instead, relatives and close aides of the leadership get more opportunities in politics.

To end the wrong practice of winning elections by any means, voters need to make a prudent judgment. The increasing use of money and muscle in polls has emerged as a serious problem. This leads to an increase in chances of self-centred and crooked persons being elected. Only aware and considerate voters could help eliminate this type of glitch.

Fearless environment

The EC seems to have paid much attention towards holding elections in a free, fair and impartial manner. The election body should leave no stone unturned when it comes to conducting the polls in a fearless environment. It has urged the contestants of the forthcoming elections to clear all their tax dues and arrears. They need to announce that they have cleared all the arrears if any. The candidates are also not required to have received any diversity visa or permanent residence visa of any foreign nation.

The EC has already unveiled the election code of conduct after having the leaders of political parties expressed their commitment to the poll rule. It appears that the EC has come up with tougher poll code every election. But it is more challenging to implement the election code in a more effective way. The election body must prove its mettle by strictly monitoring the enforcement of the election code to make sure that all the political parties and their leaders are abiding by such rules. Political parties, civil society, media and other stakeholders need to extend their full support to the EC for holding the polls in a fair and dignified manner.

(Dahal is a deputy executive editor of this daily.)