According to the proposal, the parties will receive funding on the basis of their performance in the previous election. Though the amount has not been mentioned in the proposal, we can get cues about it from a similar proposal made in the 2003 budget that had, however, been rejected by most of the political parties. Then, Finance Minister Prakash Chandra Lohani had proposed providing Rs 9 per vote annually to run the party and Rs 20 per vote to fund election campaigns.
The whole idea behind the proposal is to weed out malpractices from the political parties, primarily the ones stemming from their compulsion to “return the favor” to those individuals, firms and organizations that lend the parties help, mostly financial, to contest elections, something that involves a lot of money. Some politicians discreetly agree that this help sometimes even comes from foreign governments. If this is indeed true, one can well imagine what it means in the context of the country’s interests and national sovereignty.
Parliamentarians have also discussed banning political parties that pose a threat to communal and religious harmony, discriminate Nepalis and insult or bring shame upon our national symbols. While maintaining communal harmony in society is of utmost importance, we urge the CA to discuss the proposal threadbare before reaching a conclusion. This could be a double-edged sword as it could be used against genuine political parties. There needs to be a firm guarantee that no political witch-hunting takes place in the name of tackling communalism.
It would be too naive to imagine that things would be hunky-dory if and when the CA endorses the proposals. The first challenge would be to ascertain that once the government starts doling out funds to the parties, they would refrain from taking financial help from other sources. The second test would be to make sure that the parties use the funds transparently and for the set purposes.
Once the provisions come into force, it will also give the parties a chance to come out clean on the financial front. Parties are often asked to make public their balance sheet but that seldom happens. All said, Nepal’s problem has never been the lack of rules but its improper implementation. Let’s hope that things will be different this time around.
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