Thursday, May 12, 2022

News: May 12



Local polls more complicated now to predict with alliance politics and splits Despite Deuba’s wish and Dahal-Nepal’s compulsion, their poll partnership did not take off well, and UML hopes gains. ...... Unlike in the last 2017 elections, this time local polls are going to be complicated, even for psephologists, if there are any in Nepal. ..... Despite the five-party coalition’s utmost efforts to field candidates by dividing up seats in all 753 local units, it could not do so. The UML, which kept on repeating that it would fight the election on its own, has forged alliances with some fringe parties in several local units. ....... According to ruling party leaders, their electoral alliance is functional in one-third of the local units as per the decision from the top level. ........ The UML, however, is contesting elections in over 90 percent of local units on its own. ........ In the last local elections of 2017, the UML won 41.5 percent of the local government seats against 32.4 percent of the Nepali Congress. .......... an additional 3.6 million new voters have enrolled themselves for the local polls. ....... The total number of voters for local elections is 17,733,723 ....... Reports are surfacing that the Unified Socialist is tying up with the UML after not getting enough election tickets. ........ Even some Congress leaders have forged alliances with the UML in some areas, including Dadeldhura, the home district of party President and Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba. The coalition has even failed to run campaigns in many places, with its excessive focus on Bharatpur Metropolitan City. ......... There are at least 14 mayors who won from different parties and have joined the UML in Madhesh Province, according to party leaders. ......... They have maintained that more than the Congress, it’s the Maoist Centre and the Unified Socialist that wanted the electoral alliance because the former is devoid of agendas and the latter lacks the vote base. ....... “The Nepali Congress and Maoist Centre left us out of the alliance,” Khatiwada told the Post. “Basically, the Maoists terrorised us and the Nepali Congress tried to show itself as superior during seat-sharing negotiations. Since we are a new force, we were forced to compromise with the Nepali Congress and the Maoist Centre.”

In Madhesh Province, the political landscape is changing Analysts say the CPN-UML will likely gain from the deep divisions in the Madhesi parties and the alliance politics of five ruling forces. .......... Madhes has traditionally been a Nepali Congress bastion. After the first Madhes uprising in 2007, Madhes-based parties were expected to gain more ground. The grand old party, however, continued to get the support of the Madhesi people, which was evident from the 2017 local elections. ....... The Congress won 40 local units in the province in 2017 elections. Of the 136 local units in the province, the Upendra Yadav-led Sanghiya Samajbadi Forum won 26 seats, securing second position, while the Rastriya Janata Party led by Mahanta Thakur stood third with wins in 25 local units. The CPN (Maoist Centre) won 21 local units and the CPN-UML was in the fifth position with wins in 18 local units. .......... the political landscape is going to change with the UML making inroads into Madhes

and the Janamat Party, led by CK Raut who once championed a secessionist movement, emerging in the scene.

........ “The Loktantrik Samajbadi Party (LSP) and the Maoist Centre will be the major losers.” ....... the situation, however, has changed in UML’s favour in the last five years. Though the split of the Madhav Nepal faction has inflicted some harm, the entry of Prabhu Sah from the Maoist Centre is a big compensation ....... The UML has also welcomed 14 mayors or rural municipality chairs from other parties....... “There were obstructions for the party during campaigns last elections, but not this time,” said Shah. “Many local-level representatives have joined the party in the last few months making it a competitive force.” ......... the UML has gained ground in the Madhes while the Loktantrik Samajbadi Party’s fate is at stake. ........ As far as the Congress is concerned, alliance politics is likely to cost it dearly........ local Congress leaders are not happy as the party has conceded some of the areas where it had strong presence like Birgunj Metropolitan City and Janakpur Sub-metropolitan City to the Janata Samajbadi Party. .......... “Senior leaders like Bimalendra Nidhi are not happy with the ticket distribution in his own hometown Janakpur.” .......... “We are hoping to win 40 percent local units this time,” said Raghubir Mahaseth, who is leading the UML’s election campaign in Madhesh Province. “We are in a very strong position.” ............ Mahaseth claimed that earlier the UML’s presence was limited along the east-west highway inhabited by the people from the mid-hills. But over the years the party has built organisations and expanded committees, said Mahaseth...... “The UML was always strong along the highway. We will win big along the highway and penetrate the core Madhes region as well,” he claimed. “There is no doubt that our main competitor is the Congress. Out of two Madhes-based parties, the Yadav-led Janata Samajbadi is doing well.”

Five candidates for Kathmandu mayor position to watch An overview of prominent candidates eying

Nepal’s most coveted local government post

......... The CPN-UML had won the mayoral position in the last two consecutive elections and wants to do a hat-trick this time. However, the candidate from the Nepali Congress who has the support of the five-party ruling coalition is also a strong contender. The Rastriya Prajatantra Party, which had forged an electoral alliance with the UML in 2017’s election, too is in the race but on its own. ........ Balendra Shah (Balen) has garnered the most hype. ......... He sided with Bamdev Gautam when Gautam formed CPN-ML splitting from the UML. He became close to the palace when former King Gyanendra Shah seized the executive authority of the country. Sthapit then revived Praja Parisad, the oldest party in the country, but couldn’t succeed with it. He then joined Sanghiya Samajbadi Party and fought the second Constituent Assembly polls. After failures on the different fronts, he rejoined the UML in 2014. .......... In response to the query, he said, “You are a nice lady tara thutuno thhik chhaina…Should I publish a news report saying this sister is into prostitution?”—a remark that accompanied an exaggerated body language which many have interpreted as insensitive and misogynistic. As many as 45 organisations working in the advocacy of women's rights have demanded that his candidacy be withdrawn.......... Srijana Singh hasn’t been in mainstream politics for the last few decades. Her name for the mayoral candidate was a surprise to many. ....... In 1979’s Free Students’ Union elections, she defeated Pampha Bhusal, now a CPN (Maoist Centre) leader and federal minister, to become the treasurer of the Free Students’ Union at Shankar Dev Campus, Putalisadak. ........... Until he was named as a mayoral candidate of the Rastriya Prajatantra Party, Shrestha wasn’t involved in politics directly. ........ Balen Shah, a rapper and structural engineer, had announced his candidacy even before the government had announced the date for the local polls. Balen has made his name among Nepali youths as a rapper following his acclaimed performance at the Raw Barz, a rap-battling league, in 2013. As youths comprise a large size of the electorate, Shah believes he will draw their votes in his favour. In interviews and interactions, Balen has been saying that as development is the core task of the local governments, a young engineer would be the ideal person to perform the job effectively.



Why UML is suddenly upbeat about the upcoming local elections Ruling coalition’s failure to maintain alliance all across the country makes the main opposition party see a better chance in the polls........ The failure of the five ruling parties to keep the electoral alliance intact in most of the local units appears to have encouraged the main opposition CPN-UML, which otherwise looked desperate—it even went ahead with forging alliances with some fringe parties....... the party entered into electoral alliances with the Kamal Thapa-led Rastriya Prajatantra Party Nepal and Ek Nath Dhakal’s Nepal Pariwar Dal .... on April 20, after much struggle, they could decide seat-sharing only for six metropolitan cities and 11 sub-metropolitan cities. They authorised their subordinate committees at the provincial, district and the local levels to decide on seat-sharing for chairpersons/mayors, deputy mayors/vice-chairpersons, and ward chairpersons and members. But the coalition saw “rebel” candidates ......... the way Congress leaders in Bharatpur have reacted, it looks like they will defy the party’s diktat....... Despite a series of rulings from the top leadership of the five-party alliance, many of the “rebel” candidates refused to withdraw their candidacies.......... “The number of rebel candidates is large and they are busy winning over them, while the UML is already focussed on electioneering.” ........ As many as 35,221 positions of the 753 local units including 753 chiefs and as many deputies, and 6,743 ward chairs will be elected on May 13. ........ “Congress leaders need the alliance but they don’t want to share any of the seats. We are not here to defeat the UML and ensure the win of Congress,” said Aangbo. ........ “We have fielded candidates in only around 15 percent of the local units as a commitment to the alliance,” said Vijay Poudel, deputy general secretary of the Unified Socialist. “However, in many places, the Congress and the Maoist Centre have fielded their candidates unilaterally and we were ignored.” ......... in Itahari, Dhangadhi and Butwal, where the Unified Socialist had got the deputy mayor, Janata Samajbadi Party has fielded a whole set of candidates. ........ “The alliance hasn’t worked in most places and that has definitely come as a good news for the UML” ........ Maoist Centre leaders, meanwhile, complained that the coalition has proved to be an illusion. “A nationwide alliance with the Congress is nothing but a sweet illusion,” said Chaulagain, the central committee member of the Maoist Centre. “Poll results will tell if our decision to forge alliances was beneficial.”

Dahal’s theatrics and his fixation with Bharatpur stoke discontent in party Insiders allege Pushpa Kamal Dahal is all about his family and kin at the expense of the CPN (Maoist Centre). ...... CPN (Maoist Centre) chair Pushpa Kamal Dahal has an uncanny bent for political theatrics. Whenever he senses his or his party’s political relevance is at stake, he throws a warning—that the country is headed for deep trouble, or the constitution and federalism are in danger....... It did not take long for people to interpret Dahal’s warning as “the country would face a crisis” if people did not vote for his daughter. ...... During the party’s eighth convention, representatives had questioned his extravagant lifestyle and his penchant for preferring his close relatives to those who have made contributions to the party. ....... Now his excessive push for his daughter in Bharatpur has made many wonder if the chairman even cares about the organisation and its core members. “We talk about collective leadership in the party but no one actually practises it,” said Ganesh Sah, a senior leader of the party. “Everyone knows why our chairman is so invested in Bharatpur.” ......... “Party members are not happy at all because the chairman is extremely obsessed with his daughter’s metropolitan city,” the member said. “He is acting as if the party does not need to win any other local units.” ....... The Maoist Centre has not organised mass meetings for the upcoming local polls yet. ......... Dahal, insiders say, must be happy that a mass meeting has been held in Bharatpur, and he does not seem interested in organising any poll rally in other parts of the country......... “With no one to trust, Dahal has started to focus on his family members,” said Mumaram Khanal, a former Maoist leader who has emerged as a fierce critic of the Maoist party. “Bharatpur is the last resort for him to boost his self-confidence.” ........ Party members say Dahal has done everything he can to ensure his daughter’s candidacy in Bharatpur while ignoring issues in other local units.

Excessive focus on Bharatpur mayoral race may cost Nepali Congress dearly Deuba is bending over backwards to save the alliance, irking party members no end. ....... There are 753 local units across the country but no other municipality has received so much attention as Bharatpur ...... Deuba’s continuous push to ensure a victory for Renu, who is also the daughter of the Maoist Centre chair, has not only surprised but also annoyed Congress leaders....... “If the alliance candidate [Renu] happens to lose, the Congress will be blamed and that could break the coalition.” ....... Deuba wants the alliance to continue until the provincial and federal elections so as to ensure his next term as prime minister but he fears Dahal could join hands with the UML if his daughter loses the polls. ........ the way Deuba is so invested in Bharatpur to ensure Renu’s victory shows he is more concerned about himself than the party. ....... Karna Malla, the immediate past district president of the party, has formed an alliance with the CPN-UML in all local units in the district. Similarly, there is a problem in Tanahun as well where Govinda Raj Joshi, a former Congress leader, has formed an alliance with the UML. ........ “The Congress and Deuba are focused in Bharatpur as if there is no election elsewhere” ....... Deuba fears that he will lose prime ministership if the Maoist Centre withdraws support to the government in the event of Renu Dahal losing mayorship. .......... “Deuba is always concerned about those whose support is essential for him to cling on to power,” he said. “In the mid-1990s, he had worked to unite the Rastriya Prajatantra Party.” .......... Even some Maoist leaders are riled at the ruling alliance’s excessive focus on Bharatpur. ......... “How can our party prosper when the chairman is concerned only about himself and his children?” ........ Earlier, the coalition had scheduled mass campaigns in all seven provinces of the country and had assigned top leaders to address them but later they were all cancelled.......... Bharatpur has now become a prestige issue for all the leaders in the five-party alliance as a win or loss there will shape the alliance’s course for the next polls.

‘Namaskar, main Ravish Kumar’ A veteran Indian journalist talks about Indian media, its future, and India under Modi. ...... Ravish Kumar is a veteran among a few journalists in India who continue to receive death threats for doing what journalists are supposed to do: question the government. ........ “Indian journalism, as we know it, has been finished more or less,” said Ravish........ For one, the profession he learnt about in his journalism school and in the field has changed beyond recognition. Media houses nowadays do not write or speak about what the people need to know, but what the government wants the people to know........ Rather than act as mediators of information, journalists are now creators of perception on behalf of the government, he feels. ........ the world’s largest democracy slides to 150th position in the 2022 World Press Freedom Index as per the global media watchdog Reporters Without Borders........ a time when television has become a cacophony, with anchors engaging in shouting matches......... The kind of journalism that is happening now is all about Hindu-Muslim. The ethics, ideals and objectives of journalism have been finished, as an anchor or a media house is now busy spreading religious fanaticism ........ media houses toe the line of the government and expend all their resources against the opposition, which is already too weak of its own. ......... Citizens have for the past eight years been subjected to propaganda from ‘Godi Media’ and ‘WhatsApp University’ ....... the man from Champaran in Bihar, a state bordering Nepal, refuses to be part of what he also calls “Lutyens’ Media” which is understood as left-leaning and elitist........... India, where television cacophony rules the roost ........ the propagandist media houses–‘Hindu Media’....... “For weeks now, media houses have run debates on loudspeakers being used in mosques [for azaan]. From Godi Media, they have turned into Hindu Media. This is a golden period for this kind of media”. ......... Communalism has become a daily affair in India today. In a country full of unmatched religious and cultural diversity, fanatics inspired by Hindutva raid streets and homes looking for traces of food items or relationships they consider unpious. Just as questioning the government, eating beef or marrying outside of religion is a crime for the fanatics who seek to ‘protect’ a deeply problematic, homogenous idea of India. And the media has added fuel to the fire as television anchors spit venom against minorities, especially Dalits, Adivasis and Muslims, relaying the government’s narrative of “Hindu khatre mein hain”, or “Hindus are in danger”. ..........

“It reflects a crisis in Indian society itself.”

....... “There cannot be a democracy with only one side. Democracy, rather, is a competition of ideas”

Rahul Gandhi in town to attend a wedding The Indian Congress leader arrived on Monday afternoon for his friend Sumnima Udas’ wedding........ Gandhi and his friends are staying at Kathmandu Marriott Hotel. ....... Gandhi is in Kathmandu to attend the wedding of his Nepali friend Sumnima Udas....... “We had extended an invitation to Gandhi to attend the wedding of my daughter,” said Bhim Udas, Sumnima’s father who also served as a Nepali Ambassador to Myanmar. Sumnima, a former CNN correspondent, is getting married to Nima Martin Sherpa. ......... Sumnima, a former CNN correspondent, is getting married to Nima Martin Sherpa...... Earlier, in August 2018, Gandhi had visited Kathmandu on his way to Kailash Mansarovar, a famous pilgrimage site in the Tibet Autonomous Region in China.

Bagmati top performer with economic growth rate of 6.7 percent The province’s GDP is expected to be worth Rs1,790.68 billion in 2021-22, up from Rs1,568.41 billion a year ago. ...... Madhes province is expected to report the slowest growth rate of 4.82 percent...... Bagmati’s growth is helped by key economic activities like administrative and support services, finance and insurance, real estate and professional, and scientific and technical...... Bagmati province accounts for the lion’s share of the country’s total GDP, with its contribution standing at 36.9 percent........ Gandaki province is likely to record the second highest growth rate after Bagmati with a score of 6.17 percent. Gandaki contains the tourist hotspot of Pokhara....... The share of Karnali in the total GDP is estimated to remain at 4.1 percent. The agriculture sector is a key contributor making up 31.5 percent of its GDP....... Madhes is estimated to contribute 13.3 percent to the national GDP. The agriculture sector is the highest contributor to its GDP with a share of 34.3 percent........ Last Thursday, the Central Bureau of Statistics said in its preliminary report that the country’s economy would grow by 5.84 percent in the current fiscal year without explaining how that would happen. Economists have questioned the optimistic economic growth data that has been released just before Nepalis go to the polls...... The official growth estimate is higher than the forecasts made by the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank. The World Bank and the Asian Development Bank have projected Nepal’s economy to grow by 3.7 percent and 3.9 percent respectively. ...... Nepal’s gross domestic product is estimated to reach Rs4.85 trillion at the end of the fiscal year in mid-July.

Thakur’s party struggling for survival with poor poll presence The party of veteran leader Mahantha Thakur is unable to field candidates in many local units and wards of Madhesh Province........ It could not field candidates in many local units and wards of the Madhesh Province. And even in the local units where it has fielded its candidates, owing to its poor voter base, the party is planning to support other parties’ candidates and is currently negotiating deals....... Rajeshman Singh, the mayoral candidate of the party (then Rastriya Janata Party) for Madhesh’s only metropolitan city of Birgunj in 2017, recently defected to the Janata Samajbadi Party and has become the mayoral candidate of the ruling coalition for the city. The Loktantrik Samajbadi Party, meanwhile, has decided to support CPN-UML candidate Bijaya Sarawagi for mayor by keeping Birgunj deputy mayoral candidacy for itself....... “One cannot say whether a party is weak or strong until the final election results are out. But it is true that Thakur’s party looks weak now. One of the reasons is that some influential leaders of the then Rastriya Janata Party, who became members of the Janata Samajbadi after the unification, did not return to Thakur’s fold after the party’s split. It seems that the dominant faction of the party formed after the unification of two or more parties but split again becomes stronger and another group becomes weak. Not only the Loktantrik Samajbadi, which was split from the Janata Samajbadi Party, the situation of CPN (Maoist Centre) divided from the Nepal Communist Party is also the same”

5 Years of Local Governance in Nepal Nepal is heading into its second round of local elections under its 2015 constitution. How have local governments fared in their inaugural session? ....... They are tall and tacky – and mighty popular among the TikTok crowd. As Nepal heads into local level elections scheduled for May 13, the ubiquitous “view towers” (up in the mountains) and “welcome gates” (down in the plains) are being repeatedly cited in Nepali media as markers of local governments’ profligacy. The local bodies are apparently competing to build these eye-catching structures that otherwise offer no tangible benefits to their citizens. ...... In the 2017 elections, men won 98 percent of the chief positions of mayors and chairpersons; women won 91 percent of deputy positions. ..... constant tussles between the chiefs and their deputies – partly because male leaders often question the competence of their female deputies – have hampered service delivery. Pervasive corruption is another drag on their smooth functioning. ........ our local units are too big in terms of population,” he said, citing the 22 most densely populated Nepali districts in the plains. “This in turn has harmed service delivery and reduced the representation of minorities.” ....... He speaks of how the charged political climate at the local level, mostly dominated by caste elites, has divided families and sowed social discord. ...... most local offices are understaffed in the absence of laws to hire civil servants and police officials....... “We have a highly politicized society,” he said. “In 70 percent of the cases, people will blindly vote for the candidates of their preferred parties.” ...... Elections have also become expensive. Around 70 billion Nepali rupees ($600 million) were spent in the last local elections. Although the Election Commission has this time set a spending cap on poll campaigning – 750,000 rupees for mayoral and deputy mayoral candidates – actual spending could be magnitudes above that figure. ........ While a party must field chief and deputy candidates of different genders, the same rule does not apply to a coalition of parties. ....... To increase their accountability, a digital system is being developed to track the work of local governments in real-time. ..... The spate of view tower and welcome gate building will not stop. But given the novelty of the federal project in Nepal and the many constraints local representatives had to work with, it would be unfair to see these vanity projects as the only measure of their success.

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