PM can not take credit for victories

The by-elections in the last three vacant constituencies of the House of Representatives were held on Thursday. By and large, the elections in the constituencies in Jhapa district and Morang district were quite peaceful. However, the election in Rautahat, the home constituency of Madhav Nepal, the general secretary of the CPN (UML), was violence ridden and re-lection had to be done in one voting booth. The UML blamed the Nepali Congress of perpetuating attacks and capturing voting booths with the help of the administration.

In the constituencies in Jhapa and Morang voting was held smoothly and the ruling Nepali Congress candidates won quite comfortably. Going by the vote count till going to press, it is almost certain that the well known Prakash Koirala, son of NC’s biggest leader late BP Koirala, will also win handsomely in Rautahat.

However, disturbing are the charges made by the UML, saying there were larger scale irregularities during polling, specially in Rautahat.

The main accused has been Minister Khum Bahadur Khadka. He is said to be the commander of election campaigning and management for the NC in Rautahat. However, NC sources defend the acts of Khadka, by saying he is an aggressive leader by nature and he had taken the election in Rautahat, thought to be the bastion of UML’s top boss Madhav Kumar Nepal as a prestige issue.

Moreover, the fact that the UML lost even in Jhapa, thought to be the birthplace of communism in Nepal and also still a stronghold of the Leftist, clearly indicates that the voters opted to go for the candidate of the ruling party. An observer, who had gone to inspect some of the constituencies in Jhapa reported to this writer, that ordinary people were in the mood to vote for the ruling party’s candidate, as they expected something to be done for their constituency this way.

Relating a conversation he had with a tea stall owner, the observer said, “When I asked the tea shop owner why he voted for KP Oli last time, he replied that he had felt the UML would win, Oli would be a powerful minister and something would be done for his area, but now that the NC is in power, ‘we will vote for the NC candidate,’ the shopkeeper opined”. That is almost the tendency of most voters, said another election observer while talking to this scribe. 

Not that victory even in all the three constituencies will make much difference to the ruling party. Neither would it have made much difference to the main opposition, except for it to demonstrate how dissatisfied the people were with the present government.

However now, it will give a breathing space to Prime Minister Krishna Prasad Bhattarai, who had been facing flack not only from the opposition, but also from within his own party ranks for his poor governance. At least his party men now cannot make any serious accusation against him about the by-election results. Had the NC been drubbed, they could have had an easy argument by saying the people were dissatisfied with him and the present government. Bhattarai has escaped from this difficulty, though he himself cannot take any credit for any of the electoral wins.

On the other hand, the UML now can go to the streets in an agitated mood, as has been indicated by some leaders of the party. They have accused the government administration of taking sides and even beating and killing UML leaders and supporters. It can be expected that in a shortwhile, the main opposition party, the UML, will surely hold some protest programmes to let down their anger over the electoral losses.

  That two people were killed during elections in Rautahat is indeed a sad reflection of political behaviour in the country. With security forces in full capacity, still there are incidents of violence and also irregularities mean that something is wrong with our political parties and their attitude about elections.

Reports before the elections, specially in Rautahat, had clearly hinted that there was simmering tension in the area. The security forces should have taken more precaution for that. But still, political leaders and their supporters, must have felt they could get away with anything. Otherwise why would people risk their lives to capture a voting booth that was being guarded by armed police?

Yes, the ruling party may have been to blame for mis-utilising administrative machinery. But that happened when the UML was in power too. And though such behaviour should not be there, yet, in a developing countries like Nepal, where most of the leaders are raw in their approach, such things tend to happen.

But instead of going to the streets to pressure the government through an agitation, it would be better to unmask the illegal activities of the ruling party in front of the people and in the Parliament. The people can be convinced in this way too and probably more effectively. The voters from the districts will not see the UML agitation in Kathmandu. They can be better informed through other ways.

Another thing, while the ministers should restrain themselves from misusing their power, it is the bureaucrats and police personnel who should resist any attempt by the political leaders to manipulate them. But now what these people seem to feel is that, they will be rewarded for taking sides at such moments. This is a habit which must gradually set aside in the future and neutrality must be ingrained into the minds of those working in the administration. The media can play a significant role in doing this.