With a broad smile on his face, Jakarta city council candidate Rian Ernest answers almost every question about his faith with the same line. "I'm Christian, but my wife and children are Muslims, so pray for me to get the guidance," Ernest said.
DANG, Nov 17: Women politicians are contesting the House of Representatives (HoR) and provincial assembly elections against the male ‘heavyweight’ politicians in Dang district.
Election forms the cornerstone of representative democracy. It not only enables citizens to pick the leaders of their choice but also helps them hold elected officials accountable to their actions. Election is the most accepted political process to ensure legitimacy and viability of the given system. It energises the system by sending fresh people’s representatives into the governance body. As the people elect the candidates who share their ideology and values, it helps to connect each other, thereby spurring the political and social integration. As the periodic polls oblige the leaders to seek fresh mandate, they also act as an effective antidote to corruption that deprives the commoners of access to resources and opportunities in the society. Informed electorates give the corrupt and immoral politicians their marching orders in each election cycle.
Local governments are scheduled to receive a new contingent of elected leaders following the democratic polls to be held on May 13. One needs to admit the fact that the local elections that were held in 2017 had heralded a beginning of the process of significant social and political transformation in the country. It was marked by an inclusive and progressive induction of women and marginalised groups into the ranks of local government leadership. This was enabled by the provisions in the federal constitution and relevant laws which incorporate transformative potentials and game changing provisions. It is needless to repeat that federal constitution provisions for an inclusive and transformative architectures in political power structures, process and mechanism.
BUTWAL, Jan 12: On 27 January three candidates from Lumbini Province will be elected to the National Assembly (NA). For these three seats candidates of the ruling alliance and the main opposition party will face-off. Both have fielded three candidates for the posts.
The ruling alliance include ruling Nepali Congress, CPN (Maoist Centre), CPN-(Unified Socialist), Janata Samajbadi Party (JSP) and Rastriya Janamorcha Party while the CPN-UML is the main opposition party in parliament.
From CPN-UML, Barati Upadaya and Rajendra Laxmi Gaire of CPN (US) representing the ruling coalition are facing off from the Women category in the NA by-polls from the province.
Likewise in other categories, Ram Dayal Gupta of CPN-UML and Yubaraj Sharma of NC are facing off. Similarly, Krishna Sunar of UML and Tula Prasad BK of Rastriya Janamorcha Party are contesting from the Dalit category.
Know the vote weightage
In earlier NA-polls, Hagnarayan Pandey of NC was elected as a member of NA from Lumbini Province with 4,140 votes. His nearest contender was Chandra Bahadur Khadka of UML who garnered 3,612 votes. In that election as well, the UML had stood against the coalition including NC and Maoist Centre. However, it is to be noted that during that period, UML had not splitted.
There are currently 296 voters in the province for the NA by-election. Of them, 81 are members of the provincial assembly and 215 are chiefs of local units. With this the total votes will be altogether 7,758.
In the present scenario, the ruling coalition has 4,290 votes at the local level whereas the opposition has 3,312 votes.
Meanwhile, in the provincial assembly, each member comprises 48 votes. Here, the NC and the Maoist Centre have 19 members each and the JSP has four members. Likewise, the Rastriya Janamorcha Party and the CPN (US) have one member each. With this figure, the ruling coalition has a total of 2,112 votes in the provincial assembly.
Similarly, the opposition, the UML, has 36 members in the provincial assembly which makes a total of 1,728 votes. Moreover, the party has 88 chiefs in the local levels which makes 1,584 votes.
Also, there is one provincial assembly member and four chiefs at the local level who were elected earlier independently. Their total votes is 120.
If the ruling alliance comes out victorious in the upcoming NA by-polls from Lumbini Province, the main opposition party, UML, will lose two seats in the NA.
