Commentary

By Yug Bahadur The election results have been an eye-opener for many people. First of all the political parties must have realized that their parties no longer enjoy the full trust of the people. However, the results have also reminded the people how the bureaucrats have belittled the challenges ahead for them. Here, we must not forget the Election Commission, which had said that all the results of the polls would be finished within three days after the elections held on 13 May. Even though the people have been largely disenchanted with the performances of the parties, yet more than ten million people participated in this political exercise, which the President said was the biggest festival of ‘Loktantra’ or the present federal system. After all, more than ten million people participated in this political exercise and there were hundreds of competitors from the five-party alliance headed by the Nepali Congress and the biggest opposition party the CPN (UNL) and other independent contesters who took part in the electoral process. Like when the Coronavirus threatened all countries of the world and our political leaders and especially the health policymaker said that ‘everything was under control and we were lead to believe that the government was ready to face the test, and this, although Nepal’s two giant neighbors, China and India were suffering from this very virus in a bad way. It was the same when a deadly earthquake, shook almost all parts of the country and when there were floods killing dozens of people. While we agree that quakes can hardly be predicted, we also know that floods and landslides take place every year during the Monsoon season, yet we are ill-prepared for these natural disasters. So thousands of people are affected and even the victims of last year are yet to receive help from different government agencies and NGOs all across the country. This is indeed a sad situation for Nepal, an impoverished country, in which political parties had predicted big things and the government had boasted of having the ‘cream’ of the society within it. These all seemed to be just ‘hot air’ coming from them. Just ask the disgruntled voters and this has been reflected in the results. The election surprise in the contest for mayor in the capital city which has been the bastion of all political uprisings in the nation has come as a big slap on the face of the alliance of the Nepali Congress and the CPN (Maoist) as well as the biggest opposition party the UML. Many heavyweights in the society, including noted advocate Bhimarjun Acharya, have said on television talk shows ‘the political leaders who considered the nation as their fiefdom and the constitution as ‘a page in their private diaries’ the time has come when they should change their attitude, he said. The Election Commission is still trying to defend itself, but most people are blaming it for the slow process of vote counting and also for confusingly printing the ballot papers. We understand that the Commission lacks enough manpower to look into election violations and also count the votes of millions of people and tally the votes of hundreds of candidates from the local level to huge municipalities. But such shortcomings must be reported to the government and the political parties so that such mistakes are not committed again. It should not try to hide behind excuses and lead the voters into a false understanding of the situation. It should not try and pull the wool over the eyes of the people. Instead, it must open its own eyes and be prepared to handle such gigantic work and be ready to face such challenges in the future. They must admit that many election codes of conduct were disobeyed by the candidates and the final ballot counting also went on at a snail's pace and the Chief Election Commissioner was not speaking the truth when he said the ballot counting will be completed within May seventeen. Observers are even saying that it may take a fortnight for all the counting to be finished. Talking about opening their eyes, the results of the voting should also act like a stinging slap to all political parties, especially the big parties. The leaders must have been shaken by the fact that they could not just take decisions at the central level and expect all their supporters at the grassroots level to do as the leaders wanted them to do. Of all the competitions, the competition for the post of Mayor of the Capital city, Kathmandu has been a real surprise. Independent candidate Balen Shah was leading the pack till the writing of this article and he was leading by an impressive number over the candidates of the political alliance led by the Nepali Congress and the Maoists and also the candidate of the main opposition party, the CPN (UML). The alliance candidate was Srijana Singh who is the daughter-in-law of late Ganesh Man Singh and late Mangala Devi and she is the wife of powerful NC leader Prakash Man Singh. The opposition UML had as its candidate Keshab Sthapit, a former mayor of the City, who is a sleek talker, though his popularity was given a big dent when there were allegations about his ‘womanising’. The people are tired of hearing about the nepotism in various parties, the incidents of corruption and gender insensitivity. Not only the party leaders and their relatives but, also close ones have been involved in corruption as well as in enjoying government facilities. The Nepali Congress is not the lone leader but also the Maoists have had to face such allegations. It has always been a case of near and dear ones leaping above the capable people living in isolation, whether in being given tickets to fight elections, being appointed as ambassadors or getting lucrative contracts among other such things. For example, the election of the Mayor in Bharatpur Chitwan, the daughter of the Maoist Center chair Pushpa Kamal Dahal, Renu Dahal, was given the election ticket and this was made into a prestige battle. Who will win there is a keenly watched result by all. Thus, this type of following the leaders and their close ones should not be repeated, if they want to see the right person at the right place the results of the level election must be taken as an eye-opener by all and the voters as well as the leaders must change their attitude if they want to see a person take the nation to the path of peace, progress and prosperity.