It is unlikely that the major political parties will be ready to make changes in the election law
Will the major political parties that have sway on almost all the major issues be ready to adopt the suggestions made by the Election Commission (EC) through the draft of the Integrated Election Management Bill, which was submitted to the Ministry of Home Affairs on July 3? The EC, in its draft bill, has mainly proposed NOTA (None of the Above), suffrage right to those working abroad and fixing the election dates for the federal, provincial and local level. Apart from these, the EC has also proposed that all the political parties must field at least 33 per cent women candidates under the first-past-the-post (FPtP) system and bar a person from getting elected for the third time under the proportional representation (PR) system. The bill, which has yet to be tabled in the federal Parliament, has also proposed that a person who has been charged for corruption be barred from contesting any elections. Chief Election Commissioner Dinesh Kumar Thapaliya has said the election system will see drastic reforms if the bill is adopted as suggested by the EC.
The EC has included the NOTA system in the ballot paper or electronic voting machine (EVM) from the next election, under which election of a given constituency will be declared annulled if half of the total votes are cast under NOTA, and the participating candidates will not be allowed to contest again. This is the most challenging task for the major political parties as most of the candidates are picked by the influential leaders of the given parties. The government, which tables a bill in the parliament, might not be ready to fix the election dates, which will give total autonomy to the EC. The EC has proposed holding elections for the federal parliament and provincial assemblies on the first Sunday after four years and eleven months of the last election results.
The local level election could also be arranged in a similar way.
As far as allowing the voting right to those employed abroad is concerned, neither the EC nor the government has done any initial homework in this regard. The Supreme Court had issued a directive order to the government to make arrangement for the voting right to Nepali citizens working abroad in 2018. It is not clear whether or not the people working abroad will be allowed to exercise their voting right for three levels of election, or only for the federal parliament.
Detailed homework is needed to make effective the suffrage right of Nepalis living abroad, where thousands of Nepalis are working to sustain the country's economy. The election scenario will see a sea change if the proposals forwarded by the EC are accepted as it is by the Parliament. Elections will be held in a free, fair and impartial manner if these proposals are accepted by the major political parties.
However, given their vested political interests, it is unlikely that the ruling and opposition parties will be ready to incorporate the sweeping changes proposed by the EC.
The government itself will not be ready to table the bill in the Parliament, which contain some of provisions that are harmful to the political parties.
We cannot expect anything new in the election law when the government was not ready to use the widely applied EVM during the November 20 elections.
Rabies vaccines
There is a shortage of rabies vaccines in Seti Provincial Hospital, which means all other health facilities in the province, like the district hospitals and health posts, also lack them. Hospitals in the neighbouring provinces must also be reeling under the same problem. Government hospitals normally provide the rabies vaccines for free, but when they run out of these vaccines, people are forced to buy them in the private pharmacies or clinics, which is quite expensive. Therefore, the concerned health authorities have the onus to supply the vaccines at the earliest so that people are not tormented, financially or health-wise.
However, preventing rabies is better than curing it.
Stray dogs are a menace to the local people, whether in the cities or villages. Controlling their population is a must if diseases like rabies are to be prevented. In the rural areas, villagers are also tormented by jackals and monkeys, whose bite can transmit rabies and herpes B virus, apart from causing serious wound infections. The local government and health workers should teach the people how to treat the wounds soon after an animal has scratched or bitten them. Such measures will help prevent the transmission of the virus.
A version of this article appears in the print on August 30, 2023, of The Himalayan Times.
