Inception of Federal Parliament: Women Weapon

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