Crime pays

Published On: October 18, 2017 02:00 AM NPT By: Republica  | @RepublicaNepal


Candidate selection 

This Sunday, top leaders of our major parties were engaged in hectic, last-minute parleys to finalize the list of their election candidates under the Proportional Representation quota. The Election Commission has not disclosed names of PR candidates. When it does, many Nepalis are likely to be disgusted. Nearly a dozen individuals with criminal backgrounds are confirmed to get tickets for the provincial and parliamentary elections slated for November 26 and December 7. There will, in all likelihood, be many more, among them gangsters like Deepak Manange, Ganesh Lama, Raju Gorkhali, Parshu Ram Basnet and Roj Rana. All three of our major parties, as well as smaller ones, are proposing the names of criminals. Congress President and Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba gave a sign of things to come when he included Khum Bahadur Khadka, a corruption convict, in a panel formed to finalize the party’s list of election candidates. UML chairman has in the past openly boasted about enlisting gangsters in his party, to give them a ‘chance’ to reform themselves. Maoist supremo Pushpa Kamal Dahal, for his part, is reputed for his cozy business ties. 

Party insiders say that gangsters and criminals are getting the priority in candidacy since they can pump in plenty of money and muscle to win election for their party. When the ticket does not go to a gangster, it invariably goes to a rich tycoon, who is ready to fund the ever-growing electoral expenses. In the 2013 Constituent Assembly election, UML had, out of the blue, fielded businesswoman Rajya Laxmi Golchha, in place of its up-and-coming youth leader Ram Kumari Jhankri. This time chairman Oli seems to have completely sidelined the faction of Madhav Kumar Nepal while finalizing PR candidates. In Nepali Congress, the Ram Chandra Poudel faction has been left fuming after Deuba submitted the party’s PR list without consulting it. National politics continues to revolve around the political leaders who came to prominence after the 1990 democratic change, and nearly all of them are corrupt. Top leaders have deliberately thwarted the rise of new leaders through the ranks, often by denying them election tickets, in the fear of losing their monopoly. Meanwhile, the noble purpose of PR candidacy, ensuring greater representation of marginalized communities, has been corrupted. 

In the case of FPTP candidates, people can at least refrain from voting for certain compromised candidates. But they have no say whatsoever in the selection of PR candidates. The only way to bar candidates with checkered records is through a strong electoral law. This law should prevent not just those who have already been convicted in a court of law from contesting elections but also those who are under criminal investigation of any kind. This in itself will greatly reduce the growing criminalization of politics. Greater transparency would also help. Currently political parties are ranked as the country’s most corrupt entities. The disclosure requirements for political parties thus need to be tightened, too. We may have changed the political system. But the mindset of our political class remains unchanged. Only tighter laws will curb their criminal instincts. 

 


Leave A Comment