Narayan Upadhyay

The nation is getting ready to take part in elections in 753 local bodies across 77 districts in one go. The May 13 (30th Baisakh, 2079 BS) local elections will be the second of its kind in the nation after the promulgation of the federal constitution in 2015. Local bodies are among the three-tier governance in the country besides provincial and federal governance. We know local elections will see the election of mayors, deputy mayors, rural municipality chairpersons, and deputy chairpersons, ward chairpersons and ward members in six metropolises, 11 sub-metropolises, 276 municipalities, and 460 rural municipalities.

Our constitution has guaranteed autonomy to local governments under the principle of devolution of power to grassroots and the elections at these units of governance hold ample importance for political parties, their leaders and workers. As the significance of the local elections is multi-pronged, almost all major political players want to grab several seats in all 753 local units, including metropolises and sub-metropolises. This election is also important because it provides an opportunity for residents to profess local issues and matters concerning every ward at local units. 

Direct connection
Candidates contesting for various posts in their respective units must convince locals to address the problems and gaping local issues. Every borough, locality and community has its kind of issues to be addressed. The winning candidates must aim to satiate the local voters if they hope for any chance of winning their respective positions. The local body election is different from federal level polls because the residents have a direct connection to the representatives of their localities to whom they can meet and express problems and situations of their localities or people or communities.

Since political parties regard their performance at the local level as a yardstick to fathom the outcome in the province and federal level elections, they lay special emphasis on the local elections with an eye on winning as many posts as they can. To boost their winning prospects, most parties have kick started their campaigns in all 753 local units for the upcoming local polls.

The Nepali Congress has begun its election campaign, sending its senior, second and third-generation leaders to various constituencies aimed at bolstering the party's organisational structure as well as shoring up support for elections. The leaders of the main opposition party have started visiting constituencies to augment the party's chances of winning in as many local level units as possible, while other ruling alliance partners are engaged in preparations for the same polls. 

Considering the upcoming polls, the five-party ruling alliance has also left its door open for an electoral alliance in the local polls. The government spokesperson and the Minister for Communications and Information Technology recently stated that the alliance would remain intact throughout the three-tier elections. The CPN-Maoist Centre chair cited the controversial remarks made by the lower-ranked leaders of the Nepali Congress, which did not hold any meaning as an understanding for maintaining the alliance until the completion of elections at three levels had already been hammered out. 

Though senior alliance leaders have hinted at the current mood of key partners, scepticism regarding whether these alliance members will take part in the polls making seat-sharing arrangements has persisted. Some leaders of the Nepali Congress such as Shekhar Koirala, Gagan Thapa, Dhan Raj Gurung, Minendra Rijal and a few others have spoken against making any poll alliance. This, according to analysts, has put the NC President and Prime Minister under pressure as leaders voicing concerns wield some clout in the party. 

However, it appears that a majority of NC party workers are in favour of making seat arrangements in the coming polls as the ruling alliance partners have a joint goal to achieve - to defeat the main opposition party, UML. The chair of the main opposition, who often exhibits his despotic nature, can go to any limit for the fulfilment of autocratic urges. He can disregard the constitution and even collude with anti-democratic forces to remain in power. Nepali Congress leaders of all hues and stripes must not forget that the three parties - the Maoist Centre, CPN- Unified Socialist and Janata Samajwadi - have catapulted their party into a leading role in the government and president of the PM's seat. They cannot backtrack from the promises their party and the NC have made with these leaders of keeping their alliance up until three-tier elections or even beyond. 

Seat-sharing deal
Maintaining a poll alliance has other benefits for the NC and its partners. Through a seat-sharing agreement, they will win a large number of posts in 753 local bodies, relegating their main adversary, the UML, to a distant position. This will help alliance candidates make a stellar performance in the province and federal level elections, enabling their partners to form governments in all provinces and at the federal level. One should not forget that there is a distant possibility that eschewing the communist partners at the last minute may push them to form some kind of understanding with the UML for achieving favourable poll results. Though such a situation is unlikely and unthinkable at present, one never knows.

No doubt, the much-hyped poll alliance certainly brings about favourable results for ruling partners. However, the candidates fielded by the ruling alliance have to do hard work to gain victory. Even the big political parties should remind them of one basic fact regarding all polls: they can achieve the goal of contesting and winning local elections only when their candidates win the hearts and minds of locals. This is a more effective way of winning more seats than bringing out poll manifestoes, which has nowadays become a formality for parties. 

(Upadhyay is Managing Editor of this daily. nara.upadhyay@gmail.com)