HELLO NEPAL

  The Himalayan Times 26 May 2022 Lessons to political forces The recently concluded local elections were full of surprises, especially the waves of individual independent candidates leading the polls in various municipalities. Among the many, the hotspot of this movement was Kathmandu, where Balendra Shah, who is known to many as just Balen, a notable rapper and professionally a structural engineer, was contesting for the mayoral seat. Initially, his candidacy for the position was seen as a mere joke, looking at him contesting against UML’s well known candidate and former mayor Keshav sthapit or Srijana Singh, a common candidate of the five-party alliance. People had initially thought Balen’s victory would be a fluke. He is now leading the race with a huge margin and is almost sure to be elected as Kathmandu’s Mayor.  The electoral victory of these independent candidates over the major political parties’ candidates is now the talk of the town, raising various question...

Balen is winning the mayoral race.         Balen Shah       After watching this VDO and listening to Balen. I am not surprised to see him winning the Kathmandu Mayoral race as an independent candidate leaving far behind UML and coalition parties’ candidates. I am sure the voters, who voted him to see the next Kathmandu Mayor, will not have to repent in the coming days. It seems that the voters especially young voters are fade up with the same old faces of major political parties because of their past political performances. This has clearly indicated Balen leading other candidates with such a huge margin of votes. Also, this indicates that time has come for the major political parties to seriously and sincerely contemplate their past political blunders and start correcting such blunders rather than continue trying to fool the voters with their fake promises for their personal political benefits. Other independent candidates are also doing well in...

  The Himalayan Times 19 May 2022 Efficacy of local bodies The much awaited local level election is over now. Counting of the ballot papers throughout the country is going on with much vigour. Voters are enthusiastically waiting for the final results to see whether their voted candidates got elected. This is the second local level elections held after 5 years in accordance with the 2015 constitution. The first local level elections were conducted for the first time in 2017 in three phases on May 14, June 28, and September 18. From the local level elections held on May 13, 2022, a total of 35,221 local level officials will be elected.  Election is the lifeline of democracy. Local elections help raise political awareness among the people, who in turn, excitedly participate in the election, wishing to receive public services at their doorsteps from the local bodies they elect. The main responsibility among others of these bodies is to effectively provide government serv...

The Himalayan Times 12 May 2022 Stop fooling voters It seems everything is possible in Nepali politics looking at the nominations of common candidates of the five-party coalition parties for the upcoming local elections. It is not known elsewhere about political parties forming an alliance to take part in an election and forcibly asking the voters to vote for their common candidate, who will be using the election symbol and political manifestos of one of the coalition partners. But the existing five-party coalition partners made it possible. There is a common practice of forming a coalition government if no political party is able to form its government due to insufficient number of elected representatives as per the constitution.  नेपाल कता तिर ?  The major political parties, which never get tired of telling the people about their prime responsibility to safeguard the constitution and protect democracy from regressive forces, seem to be again deceiving their voters. A...

  The Himalayan Times 5 May 2022 Kathmandu’s future mayor With the local level elections fast approaching, all the nominated candidates of different parties have started their campaign to lure the voters towards them. The five-party coalition partners and other fringe parties have nominated their candidates for different positions, hoping to get them elected based on their rosy political manifestos. Looking at their manifestos in the past, it seemed there was nothing left to be done. Unfortunately,   their promises were never fulfilled.  MYSTICAL NEPAL Who will be Kathmandu’s mayor has been the talk of the town, and the people are making wild guesses as to who will win. It looks like there will be tough competition for the post of mayor among the coalition’s candidate Srijana Singh, UML’s Keshav Sthapit, RPP’s Madan Das Shrestha and independent contender Balen Shah. Whoever gets elected will have a tough time fulfilling the promises made during the election. One o...