by Tika R Pradhan & Nishan Khatiwada in The Kathmandu Post, Dec 11, 2022
The seven political parties that earned the national party status in the recently-concluded polls finalised the candidates to be elected under the Proportional Representation (PR) category and submitted their lists to the Election Commission on Saturday, the deadline set by the election body.
“We have received the PR lists from all the concerned parties,” said Guru Wagle, assistant spokesperson for the Election Commission, on Saturday evening. “But a few of them are still arranging necessary documents.”
As the parties did not field enough female candidates under the First-Past-The-Post (FPTP) category, the vacuum had to be filled through the proportional representation system.
As per the constitution, parties are required to ensure 33 percent representation of women in their total House of Representatives and National Assembly seats.
In the 59-strong National Assembly, the UML and the Maoist Centre hold 15 seats each and the Nepali Congress has 10 seats. Of the UML’s 15 members in the Assembly, nine are women.
In the House of Representatives, four UML women candidates emerged victorious in direct elections: Bidya Bhattarai from Kaski-2, Juli Mahato from Dhanusha-3, Jwala Kumari Sah from Bara-3 and Bhagawati Chaudhari from Sunsari-3.
The party as such could have picked 15 males for its 34 PR seats, but it chose only 12 males (while 22 women were chosen).
Similarly, the UML has finalised Devi Prasad Bhattachan, Hem Raj Rai, Kalu Ram Rai, Nainakala Thapa Magar, Surya Kumari Shrestha, Urmila Thebe, Ishwori Gharti, Rana Kumari Balampaki, Shanti Shrestha, and Saraswati Subba under the Indigenous Nationalities.
Raghuji Pant, Eknath Dhakal, Dayal Bahadur Shahi, Menuka Kumari Pokharel, Sarita Bhusal, Shova Gyawali, Bijula Rayamajhi, Nirmala Koirala, Samjhana Thapaliya, Dipa Sharma, and Sunita Baral have made it under the Khas-Arya cluster, while Ashma Kumari Chaudhary and Shanti Chaudhary have been included under the Tharu cluster.
The others who made the UML PR list include Ishwar Bahadur Rijal, Prabhu Hajara Paswan, Chandra Bahadur Bishwakarma, Rukmani Rana Baraili and Harka Maya Bishwakarma under Dalit; Ganga Prasad Yadav, Amrit Lal Rajbanshi, Bina Devi, Amrita Devi Agrahari and Pratikshya Tiwari under Madheshi; and Saraj Amahat Faruki under Muslim cluster.
UML’s Secretariat meeting scheduled for Friday had been postponed till Saturday to finalise the list.
UML leaders’ reported inclination toward the President of Nepal Pariwar Dal Eknath Dhakal, whom the party included in its PR list, had bred disenchantment among the party’s rank and file. Some party members even took to social media to express their discontent.
The party has selected four PR members from Chairman KP Sharma Oli’s home district of Jhapa.
Nepali Congress, on the other hand, could select only three males in its 32 PR seats.
The Congress selected 29 women against UML’s 22 women candidates. Of the 10 Congress members in the National Assembly, three are women. Sita Gurung of Tehrathum was the only woman Congress candidate who made it to Parliament from direct election.
The party has locked up Ambika Basnet, Sarita Prasai, Arzoo Rana Deuba, Ishwori Neupane, Pratima Gautam, Manju Khand, Rama Koirala Poudel, Kantika Sejuwal, Maina Rawal Karki and Prakash Sharan Mahat under the Khas-Arya cluster.
Despite criticism from both within and without the party, Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba’s spouse Arzoo and Home Minister Balkrishna Khand’s wife Manju managed to make it to the House.
Similarly, Congress has selected Naagina Yadav, Mukta Kumari Yadav, Chanda Chaudhari, Sangita Mandal, Ninu Kumari Karna and Bimalendra Nidhi under Madhesi cluster; Shanti BK, Rupa BK, Seeta Mijar, Aasha BK and Jeevan Pariyar under Dalit category; Kalpana Chaudhary and Bina Kumari Thanet under Tharu cluster; and Javeda Khatun Jaaga under the Muslim cluster.
Given the high number of claimants, the parties were struggling to finalise their PR candidates’ list until the final hour before the deadline. Parties, including Nepali Congress, RPP and Janata Samajbadi Party were yet to complete their documents until late Saturday evening.
After the Congress Central Working Committee on Saturday failed to give a final shape to its PR list, party President Sher Bahadur Deuba was entrusted with the task.
Choosing the three male candidates was tough for the Congress due to a large number of claimants.
In the November 20 federal elections, the UML secured 34, Congress 32, CPN (Maoist Centre) 14, Rastriya Swatantra Party 13, Rastriya Prajatantra Party seven and Janata Samajbadi Party and Janamat Party five seats each under the PR category for the House of Representatives.
Similarly, the Congress won a total of 64 seats in the seven provinces, the UML won 70 seats, the Maoist Centre 29, the RPP 17, while Janamat Party, Janata Samajbadi Party and CPN (Unified Socialist) won nine seats each. Likewise, Nagarik Unmukti Party won five, Loktantrik Samajbadi Party three, Nepal Majdoor Kisan Party two and Hamro Nepali Party, Nepal Sanghiya Samajbadi Party and Rastriya Janamorcha one seat each under the same category.
The Maoist Centre, for its part, selected 12 women in its 14 PR seats for the House of Representatives.
Rekha Sharma from Dang-2 was the only Maoist Centre candidate to be directly elected to the House of Representatives. Three of the party’s 15 National Assembly members are women.
The Maoist Centre selected Durga Rai, Mina Tamang, Urmila Majhi Poudel, Chhiring Lyamu Lama Tamang from Indigenous Nationalities; Hitraj Pande, Gyanu Basnet Subedi, Bimala Subedi and Narayani Sharma from Khas-Arya; Rupasosi Chaudhari from Tharu; Ranendra Barali and Sushila Shripali Thakuri from Dalit; Mina Yadav and Umarawati Devi Yadav from Madheshi cluster; and Kalpana Miya from the Muslim and Backward Region clusters. Umarawati Devi represents the Nepal Samajbadi Party.
CPN (Maoist Centre)’s office bearer meeting had also struggled to finalise the list of the PR candidates on Friday but they failed.
Political analysts said the spirit of the PR system has been hijacked by the top leaders of major parties.
“The PR system came to ensure representation of marginalised groups but it has now become a tool to give jobs to those who cannot win direct elections,” said Rajendra Maharjan, a political analyst. “The way leaders have selected their relatives and wealthy people shows that they have already hijacked the PR system.”
Even the newly-formed Rastriya Swatantra Party struggled to pick PR candidates. Problems surfaced as many in the party expressed their dissatisfaction at the PR order that was supposedly being tweaked at the behest of some top leaders.
The RSP has selected Santosh Pariyar and Shiva Nepali from Dalit category; Dhaka Kumar Shrestha, Indira Rana Magar and Sumana Shrestha from Indigenous Nationalities; Chanda Karki, Dol Prasad Aryal, Nisha Dangi and Binit Kathayat from Khas Arya; Laxmi Tiwari and Manish Jha from Madheshi; Ashok Chaudhari from Tharu and Ashim Sah from the Muslim category. Of them, five are women.
The RSP had seven FPTP seats, of which two seats were won by women: Toshima Karki from Lalitpur-3 and Sovita Gautam from Kathmandu-2.
Neither of the two members of Janata Samajbadi Party in the National Assembly is a woman. As such, the party had to pick five women from the proportional representation category as the party has two male members in the National Assembly. But it selected only four women, possibly inviting an Election Commission intervention.
Janata Samajbadi Party has selected Prakash Adhikari, Sushila Shrestha, Rekha Yadav, Ranju Thakur and Sahanaj Rahaman among its five PR list candidates.
Janamat Party has selected Anita Kumari Shah, Goma Lama Sapkota, Binita Kumari Singh, Sonu Murmur and Abdul Khan in its PR list. Four of them are women.
Similarly, Rastriya Prajatantra Party has selected Pashupati Shumsher JB Rana, Buddiman Tamang, Roshan Karki, Geeta Basnet, Bina Lama, Bina Jaiswal, and Anisha Nepali to be elected to the House of Representatives under the PR category. Five of them are women.
The Election Commission had set Saturday as the deadline for submitting the list of candidates. It has set aside two more days for name correction, to see if the parties have selected enough candidates from identified clusters.
https://kathmandupost.com/politics/2022/12/11/parties-pick-pr-candidates-amid-cries-of-unfairness
