Apart from interesting aspects like the formation of unexpected political alliances, women and couples’ participation were found to be the other highlights of the Nepali Legislative Elections 2017 drawing huge public attention.

Women in Campaigning

With most of the men staying abroad for work, Dolakha of Province 3 is witnessing a remarkable participation of women in campaigning for the upcoming Nepal general elections.

According to the local leaders, this trend is because of the absence of men in the district.

According to UML’s Parbat Gurung and Nepali Congress (NC)’s Rudra Bahadur Khadka, local First-Past-The-Post (FPTP) candidates contesting for the Federal Parliament, a huge presence of women was being seen in the election activities.

Pashupati Chaulagain, CPN-UML’s FPTP candidate from Dolakha-1 (B), made a Facebook post of his poll campaigning pictures involving women campaigners.

 “We see huge presence of women in these election programmes as there are only a few men and youths left in the villages,” says Kamala Basnet, Deputy Mayor of Bhimeshwar Municipality.

Kalika Pathak, Vice Chairperson of Kalinchok Rural Municipality, says, “In Magapauwa village, the number of women attending an election-related discussion programme was 60, while only 35 males were present.”

However, the women participation was found to be confined to preparing garlands for the leaders and welcoming the guests, and were hardly invited on to the dais for speeches.

Women account for half of the 2.08 million population of Dolakha and the number of women voters are more than men, at 74,016 out of the total 147,878 registered voters of the district.

Women Contestants

The Dang District of Province 5 alone is witnessing eight women candidates in race for the upcoming federal and provincial elections that are scheduled to be held in the district under second phase on December 5, 2017.

According to the Office of Chief Returning Officer, Dang, four women candidates are contesting for three House of Representative seats and a similar number of women are vying for six provincial assembly seats.

Sushila Chaudhary for Nepali Congress, Rekha KC for CPN-UML alliance, KC for the left alliance of UML-CPN alliance are among the eight women candidates.

18 Couples in The Election Fray

Around 18 couples are contesting in Nepal’s general and provincial elections 2017.

Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba (from Dadeldhura) and his wife Arzoo Deuba Rana (from Kailali-5 constituency) are among the prominent leaders contesting in the FTFP category.

While the former Speaker Onsari Gharti Magar is contesting in the PR category, her husband CPN-MC leader Barsha Man Pun is in race under FPTP from the Rolpa constituency.

Nepali Congress leader Bal Krishna Khand and his wife Manju Khand, UML Vice-Chairman Bam Dev Gautam and his wife Tulasha Thapa, and CPN-MC leader Dev Gurung and his wife Yashoda Subedi are among other prominent couples representing different political parties in the upcoming elections.

Women in Election Counting

Meanwhile, the Election Commission officials are also calling for high women participation in the election counting process.

In this regard, the Chief Election Officer of Chitwan, Kul Prasad Sharma has urged the concerned authorities to recruit women for vote counting in the upcoming elections.

Sharma made this statement at a United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and Social Cohesion and Democratic Participation Programme organized in Bharatpur, recently.

Sharma added that women folks are most suitable for this task because of their modesty and peaceful nature.

Nepali CNN Hero Anuradha Koirala

Globally-renowned Nepali social activist Anuradha Koirala Joins Race on behalf of Nepali Congress

CNN Hero and the Founder of reputed organization called Maiti Nepal, Anuradha Koirala has entered the election race on behalf of the Nepali Congress (NC).

“That’s why, at a time when constitution implementation has become challenging, I appeal on everyone to vote for NC and end the political stalemate that has gripped the nation for six decades. Everyone should now know that only a NC-led government will ensure the rights of all people,” says Koirala.

Koirala has drawn wide recognition, globally, for her continuous fight against girl trafficking over the past three decades and CNN has also conferred her with the Hero of the Year’ title in 2010.

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Parliament Speaker Onsari Gharti Magar launched the Parliament’s website and mobile application, designed to help users in accessing information pertaining to the Parliamentary activities, on Thursday. She said that these new tools will help people remain informed about the condition of bills registered in the Parliament.

The Speaker also said that in order to make the House business more effective, the Parliament should have its own building, residence facilities, television channel and radio station. The Parliament is currently paying more than Rs 90 million for using the International Convention Centre at Baneswhor as its official building.

Opposition from the Nepali Army had forced the government to call off its plans to build a new Parliament building at Putali Bagincha inside Singha Durbar.

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On the occasion of the World Population Day, Parliament Speaker Onsari Gharti Magar has called for gender equity in Nepal and urged families not to discriminate between their sons and daughters. Addressing the gathering in a program organized to mark the day, Gharti Magar, Nepal’s first female speaker has said that despite progress in family planning and efforts towards gender equity, discrimination still exists in many rural areas with couples preferring sons to daughters.

Giulia Vallese, the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) country representative to Nepal has said that though a lot of work has been done to promote family planning and ensure availability of contraceptives in Nepal, there is still a lot more that needs to be achieved.

Bishwa Nath Oli, Secretary at the Ministry of Population said that, “Investment on family planning by the government and development partners is increasing. We are moving towards progress but we accept that as compared to other foreign nations, it is not satisfactory”.

Various programs have been organized across the country under this year’s theme, Family Planning: Empowering People, Developing Nations.

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