by Nishan Khatiwada in The Kathmandu Post, Jan 6, 2023
Independent candidates who rebelled against their parties when denied election tickets in the November polls have started returning to their mother organisations. Of them, the winners have been making a beeline to the parties they quit.
Such lawmakers’ return becomes a win-win situation for both sides because the lawmaker can again become active in the old organisation while the party gets one more seat in Parliament, giving them a leg up in parliamentary politics, which is a numbers game, observers say.
The independent winners’ attachment to the party that persisted throughout and their stronghold in the local constituency usually become the pull factors.
Uddhab Pyakurel, associate professor of political sociology at the Kathmandu University, said even if the leaders don’t get a ticket from the party and file their independent candidacy, their cosiness with their faction and attachment with the party remains as earlier. “Such an attachment plays a significant role in their return,” he said.
Kiran Sah, an independent candidate from Rautahat-2, was elected to the House of Representatives, defeating a strong rival Mohammad Firdosh Alam of the Nepali Congress. He rejoined his former party the CPN-UML on Tuesday. The UML chair KP Oli welcomed him back at Balkot.
Madhesh provincial assembly member Jawaharlal Kushwaha, who had won the provincial polls from Sarlahi 3 (a) as an independent candidate, also returned to the Maoist Centre on December 29. Prachanda welcomed him back at his Khumaltar residence.
The independent candidate elected to the Lumbini provincial assembly, Dipendra Kumar Pun returned to the Maoist Centre on Wednesday. Prime minister and party chair Pushpa Kamal Dahal welcomed him to the party fold at a function at Baluwatar.
Due to the pre-poll alliance, Congress got electoral tickets in Rolpa (b). Then Maoist politburo member Pun fought the election as an independent, protesting against the party’s decision to cede the constituency to the Congress. After his candidacy, the party expelled him.
Political analyst Pitambar Bhandari said that due to the grip of the winning independent candidates on their constituencies, the party leadership welcomed them back. “Regardless of the reasons why the party leaders had filed independent candidacies, if they have a good voter base and are firmly connected to the constituency, the party takes them back so as to maintain its grip in the region,” said Bhandari.
The return of Kiran Sah and Pun is also for the same reason.
Oli welcomed Kiran Sah to the party reportedly due to the party organisation’s decline in Rautahat after Prabhu Sah’s betrayal. According to insiders, he also now stands a chance to become a minister. The UML had been weakened significantly, mainly after the party’s senior leader Madhav Kumar Nepal split to form a new party, the CPN (Unified Socialist). Former prime minister Nepal won a federal seat from the same district. The major party seems to be recouping its huge loss in the constituency by the return of Sah, who emerged victorious independently.
Kiran Sah had filed an independent candidacy in November 20 polls after the UML allocated Rautahat-2 for the Janata Samajbadi Party’s Shailendra Sah as they had sealed a deal to forge an electoral collaboration with the Madhesh-based party. A key leader in Madhesh, Prabhu Sah had backed Kiran Sah in the election. Prabhu Sah, after winning the polls as an independent candidate after quitting the UML, launched the Aam Janata Party on December 29, with Kiran Sah appointed as the chief of the parliamentary department of the party.
Shah said some factors played roles in his return to the UML. According to him, the party did not take action against him, when it had punished some rebel cadres and candidates. “I also got support from the UML leaders and cadres in my constituency. I was always attached to the party. Chair Oli and other central leaders were also in regular touch, and had been encouraging me to win and return to the party,” he said.
“The party central leaders, after my win, said they have realised their mistake by denying electoral tickets to a dedicated leader like me,” Shah told the Post.
Political analyst Bhandari said if the political parties do not have a comfortable position and strength in Parliament, they will bring back independent candidates back to the party.
“The process of punishing and welcoming the defector independents is more harsh in case of the communist forces,” said Bhandari. “As the numbers game and majority in parliament have become the major basis of politics, the bargaining power of the winning independent candidates also heightens, so they can ask and demand prominent posts and join back the party.”
Even the party leaders who were expelled have been welcomed after their wins, which observers term as not the right move.
“It is not a right move to bring back the lawmakers [who won as an independent candidates] to the party after punishing them some time back. Such activities inspire leaders to contest as independent candidates, defecting from their parties,” Pyakurel said.
After the UML ceded Morang-5 to Janata Samajbadi Party, Yogi Mandal had filed his nomination as an independent candidate and won. Now, he is also reportedly ready to return to the UML.
His willingness and Sah’s return are being taken as the tactics of the UML to become the largest party in Parliament, say political watchers.
The UML is in a mood to welcome all its rebel candidates who had fought elections independently and won, to become the largest party in Parliament. “In the UML’s case, it is in a bid to become the largest force in Parliament, so even a single seat is crucial for the party,” said Pyakurel.
Similar was the situation in the past as well. Atahar Kamal Musalman of the Nepali Congress fought the second Constituent Assembly election in 2013 independently after the party denied him a ticket. He won the election and rejoined the mother party afterward. In the general elections of 2017, the Congress nominated him to the House of Representatives under the proportional representation category.
In the 2017 polls, Chhakka Bahadur Lama filed his independent candidacy from Humla, rebelling against his party, the Maoist Centre, after it denied him a ticket. He won with the lowest margin of 47 votes. Before last month’s polls, he joined the UML.
In last May’s local elections too, Manoj Shah, who had contested as an independent candidate for the mayoral position in Janakpur Sub-Metropolitan City, after winning, joined the victory rally of the Nepali Congress. He had left the party ahead of contesting the polls.
https://kathmandupost.com/politics/2023/01/06/parties-are-taking-back-rebels-who-won-polls
