National 2 (Spotlight Weekly)

Preparing For Polls

The Election Commission registers 116 parties - old and new - to contest the November polls

By SANJAYA DHAKAL

The otherwise deserted corridors at the Bahadur Bhawan are brimming with activity these days. Ever since Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba dissolved the House of Representatives and announced the date for fresh elections, there has been a sea-change at the premises of the Election Commission, the constitutional body authorized to conduct polls.

Chief election commissioner Rajbhandary (left) and two commissioners : Time to act

Even as leaders of Nepali Congress are awaiting the EC verdict on which of their faction - Koirala or Deuba - would win the party symbol and flag, 16 new political parties have gained recognition from the commission this year.

Apart from the 100 political parties that were registered by the EC during the last general election, 26 new political outfits had submitted their papers seeking for EC's recognition this year. "Out of the 26 applicants, 16 have been granted recognition while ten others have been denied. These ten parties need to submit necessary papers to win the recognition," said an official at the EC.

According to Tej Muni Bajracharya, spokesperson at the EC, the parties that have been denied registration have been asked to re-apply with necessary documents.

The trend of registering political parties has been on the rise since the first general election in 1991. During the 1991 polls, 47 political parties were given legal recognition by the EC. The number rose to 65 in 1994 mid term polls. Likewise, during the elections of 1999 there were 100 political parties.

Though the number of registered political parties is increasing, people have not found more actually turning out to be merrier. Their voting pattern suggests that they have recognized only around half a dozen political parties. Bulk of their votes are still won by the national parties like Nepali Congress, Unified Marxist Leninist, Rastriya Prajatantra Party, Nepal Sadbhavana Party and other leftist outfits. Past trends suggest that most of the new political parties fail to bag more than three to five percent of the cast votes.

Among the new political entrants this year include Nepal Samata Party, formed under the presidency of Narayan Singh Pun, who broke away from the Nepali Congress, and Rastriya Prajatantra Party (Nationalist) headed by Rajeshwor Devkota, among others.

The registration of political parties, though a dull matter as far as public interest is concerned, gained new attention this year following the dispute between two factions of the Nepali Congress. Each of the two factions, led by Prime Minister Deuba and his predecessor, Girija Prasad Koirala, have been claiming they represent the "real and legitimate" Congress and therefore should be awarded the official party symbol "tree" and party flag. The EC had even invited the lawyers of the two factions to present their case. The commission is expected to decide on this matter soon.

Meanwhile, the EC has started updating the list of voters. The commission has began to update the voters' identity cards in constituencies 1 to 7 of Kathmandu, 2 and 3 of Lalitpur, 1 and 2 of Bhaktapur, 5 of Sunsari and 1 of Baitadi district.

The commission had introduced the system of voters' ID in the above 13 constituencies. There are 205 constituencies in the kingdom and the commission plans to introduce the voters' ID system in all of them gradually. All Nepalese citizens over the age of 18 years are eligible to cast their votes.

As new political parties come up with new promises, it is up to the public to respond to their calls at the hustings.