The polls this time are most unpredictable with the voters greatly frustrated with the affairs of the state
Political leaders and independent candidates filed their nominations at the offices of the Election Commission across the country on Sunday for the first-past-the-post (FPtP) elections to be held next month for the House of Representatives (HoR) and the provincial assemblies. They will be contesting for the 165 seats in the HoR and 330 seats in the provincial assemblies that are up for grabs in the November 20 polls. The ruling and opposition political alliances had been especially busy trying to sort out an acceptable seat-sharing arrangement till the last moment. And although some parties had made requests to the EC to extend the nomination date by a few days, given that the Dashain festival the previous week, the EC refused to budge from its timeline. The candidates were given seven hours, from 10 in the morning till 5 in the evening on Sunday to file their nominations. The parties are expected to ensure proportional representation of all classes, sexes, ethnic groups, regions and communities while filing nominations in line with the spirit of the constitution and the prevailing laws.
With none of the parties sure of winning a majority in the polls, this year's elections will see a major clash not between parties but between alliances, which is likely to be the trend in the future as well. The ruling alliance now has the Nepali Congress, CPN-Maoist Centre, CPN (Unified Socialist), Rastriya Janamorcha and Loktantrik Samajba- and Loktantrik Samajbadi Party. It is pitted against the opposition, led by the CPN (UML), which has formed an alliance with the Janata Samajbadi Party that switched sides at the last minute after unable to secure for itself the desired number of seats.
Naturally, not all aspiring leaders can get a ticket to contest the elections, which has led to them quitting the mother parties in droves to register their nominations as independent candidates. This is likely to having a bearing on the poll outcomes, in particular, for the ruling and opposition alliances as well as for the country.
Although periodic elections are a part of any democratic system, it is frustrating to see new faces rarely getting a chance to contest the elections. And so it was this time, with leaders who have been tested time and again making their appearances. However, in a welcome departure, some elderly leaders like Baburam Bhattarai, Agni Sapkota and Krishna Bahadur Mahara of the Maoist Centre, and Astalaxmi Shakya of the UML stepped down to make way for the younger generation that, hopefully, will set a precedent for future elections. However, for leaders like Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba, former prime ministers KP Sharma Oli and Pushpa Kamal Dahal Prachanda, the lust for power is so great that they are likely to cling on to it till their end. Among the leaders, Prachanda's position remains particularly shaky, who has never contested from the same constituency in the past three elections, including those of the Constituent Assembly. He will be contesting the poll from Gorkha-2 this time. The election results this time are most unpredictable with the voters greatly frustrated with the affairs of the state. In such a situation, independents have a fair chance of making it big in the elections.
Unusual monsoon
More than a dozen people were killed in the floods and landslides in the western and far-western parts of the country triggered by the torrential unusual monsoon rains. Generally monsoon should recede by the third week of September. But it continued till the second week of October, which is quite unusual. As predicted earlier by the weathermen, this year's monsoon got extended by more than two weeks, causing huge damage to standing paddy crops. Last year also, the prolonged and unusual rains had destroyed paddy crops in the far-western parts of the country, causing damage to the tune of almost Rs 8 billion.
The continuous rainfall for three consecutive days during the Dashain festival has not only damaged paddy crops, but it has also damaged highways and flood waters have gushed into settlements and farmlands. The way the monsoon has become erratic and unusual for the last several years indicates the negative impact of climate change and global warming. There was inadequate rainfall during August when the already-planted paddy crops needed rainwater the most. Now, the standing paddy crops are inundated with excess water on farmlands during their time of harvesting. Thankfully, farmers have not cut the ripened paddy heeding the weather forecast.
A version of this article appears in the print on October 10, 2022 of The Himalayan Times.
