Nepal, nearing the end to a nearly two decades long political transition has been successful in holding the First General Election of Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal; but the politico-legal hurdle in the creation of federal parliament seems to have created a crisis at this moment, and the author opines that women are being used as weapon to further intensify the said crisis.
‘National Assembly followed by
new government or new government followed by national assembly?’ this debate
has kept the Nepalese political cosmos busy for quite a while now. The
‘government to be’ has been strongly presenting its opinion that it is strongly
against cropping up any such unnecessary argument that is meant for intentionally
delaying the transition of the power to the newly declared people’s mandate.
Whilst the care taker government is claiming that the executive power will only
be transferred after the legal and constitutional hurdles are solved. This
debate although at first sight seems to have created an unexpected political
obstruction, it was not unpredictable. The constitution was drafted in such a
restless manner that its drafters themselves became unable to foresee the
political problems and difficulties that its contents would bring in the days
that would follow after its implementation.
A crisis was encountered also
when an attempt to topple down the government chaired by KP Oli was made. The
unclear and incomplete provisions in the constitution had instigated a heated
debate amongst the politico-legal community back then as well; the issue then
was addressed by removal of difficulty by the president pursuant to article 305
of the constitution. Looking as these instances seems as though we Nepalese are
very good at making mountain out of a molehill, in political and constitutional
matters.
The formation National Assembly
dispute at the current time has been shaped as an arena of a war for politics
based on numbers and lust for power. The blame cannot be rested upon a one
single party here, both the care taker government and the ‘government to be’
have equal role in intensification of this dispute where the former is gasping
for securing some number of seats in the federal parliament in light of the ill
results of the general elections on its side and the latter is very impatient
for creation of new government under its leadership. The author in regards to
this dispute is of the opinion that, politics has gotten shamefully sexist by
spinning around in whirlpool of chaos by exploiting the constitutional
provision of women representation in the federal parliament of the country.
Nepalese constitution has for the
very first time incorporated such provision which constitutionally guarantees
the presence of one third of women law makers from each of the political
parties present in the federal parliament. Article 84, clause 8 of the constitution
has provided for such a provision as account to which in case women are not elected
so as to constitute one third of the elected members of any individual political
party under direct election to House of Representatives i.e. election to 165
members and election to 56 elected members of the National Assembly, then such
political party are required to ensure the women representation by filling the
posts through seats obtained in the Proportional Representation election. But
the political parties at this moment are mischievously making the use of this
provision to create confusion regarding the formation of the national assembly
and the new government.
The aforementioned provision in
fact must have been incorporated in the constitution so as to secure the proper
representation of women in the law making authority of the country by ending
decade long underrepresentation of women.
The provision with such a pragmatic purpose, at this moment has been
wrongly used to keep hold of the power that has actually expired as presented
by the fresh mandate of the people. But the ‘government to be’ is also not
exempted from blames about this issue, the ‘government to be’ looks like it is
in such a hurry to get hold of power that it seems to have been apathetic
towards the constitutional and legal provisions.
The message that is trying to be
conveyed by the author here is that the deviation from the true purpose of
article 84(8) i.e. constitutional provision guaranteeing representation of
women in the federal parliament would not be productive in any way. Explosives
can be used to drill through mountains to build roads and the same explosives
can also be misused to cause harm to life and property of people; both the
parties i.e. the care taker government and the government to be must understand
what they are supposed to, from this analogy. Women are not weapon, the use of
women to keep hold of power that has been snatched away from the current
government cannot be justified. Also, the apathy of the party that come
victorious in the general election, towards the provision of women
representation in the federal parliament is a grave irresponsibility. The issue
of women representation must not be made a wager to gain political power.
The country and the people need
both the national assembly and new government; due process of law and
compliance with constitution in the course to resolve this political chaos is
essential. No social groups should be used as a weapon or a shield for the
purpose of political gain. The concerned parties should not splatter the
people’s yearn to witness proper political culture by intensifying disputes
instead of solving difference through dialogues.
Adwait
