Most of the political parties, including the Nepali Congress, the CPN-UML and the CPN-Maoist, yesterday filed the nomination papers of their candidates for the April 10 election to the Constituent Assembly election. The three agitating Tarai-based parties, which have held talks with the government, did not file the papers, though, it was reported that they had reached an understanding with the government on their demands in the wee hours of the same morning. However, it is hoped they take part in the polls. As the choices of party candidates have been made and it is too late for any revision now, there have been voices of dissatisfaction in political parties over some of the choices. For instance, some people have announced they have left their parties over differences. With polling day drawing near, inter-party rivalries appear to be intensifying in constituencies, and there have been incidents of party cadres resorting to violence. The succumbing to his injuries of a Maoist cadre after a clash with CPN-UML cadres the other day is just a case in point.

Disgruntlement over the distribution of tickets is hardly an unnatural phenomenon in political parties ahead of any nationwide election. Those who do not get a ticket and their supporters will try to vent their anger in various ways. Unless there is an exodus and a number of rebel candidacies, as once in the general election called by the then Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala under the now scrapped 1990 Constitution, there is little for any party to fear. What seems, however, to be much more worrying is the danger that inter-party rivalries may lead to violence, injuries and deaths. The political leaders should, therefore, guard against this, developing necessary understanding on the matter and creating a sound mechanism for minimising the possibility of anything unpleasant, beyond healthy electoral competition. Even then, if something unpleasant happens, they should already also have in place a trouble-shooting arrangement. Everybody needs to be responsible, all the more so the SPA constituents, because they have to fulfil the mandate of Jana Andolan II to ensure free and fair polls and steer the country through a successful transition.

At a time when anti-CA forces are working overtime to get the election postponed or prove it to be a farce, the SPA partners should be particularly alert. Even before their 12-point understanding that laid the basis for a successful joint movement, powerful forces had been at work to forestall it, and failing that, they did their utmost to split up the alliance even afterwards, and they are still at it when the CA election, a central achievement of the 2006 people’s movement, is about to materialise. Some people are now arguing that there is no longer any need to keep the alliance. Any break-up of the SPA would undoubtedly weaken the forces of Jana Andolan, making things easier for the foes of change. The need for the alliance stays as long as the gains of Jana Andolan are not fully institutionalised. Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala hit the nail on the head when he stressed, more than once, the need for the alliance, even several years after the CA election.