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...

  The Himalayan Times 28 April 2022 Political manifestos Nepal will hold its second local level elections on 13 May after it entered into the federal structure. It will be electing 586 mayors and deputy mayors in the municipalities, and 920 chairs and vice chairs in the rural municipalities. As many as 33,715 chairpersons and office bearers will also be elected from the 6,743 wards. The first local elections were held in three phases on May 14, June 28 and September 18, 2017 in six metropolitan cities, 11 sub-metropolitan cities, 276 municipalities and 460 rural municipalities in line with the new constitution promulgated in 2015. It was and is not unusual to see political parties participating in any level of elections bringing out their political manifestos that are full of promises to be fulfilled if their candidates get elected. Such promises were never fully fulfilled in the past. All the parties including the NC participating in the upcoming local level elections hav...

  Nepal's Second International Airport WOW, it was wonderful news to know that the second international airport of Nepal - Gautam Buddha International Airport - considered to be a national pride project built in Lumbini, formally came into operation today with domestic flights taking off from the new airport. Ezoic Affiliate Program As per THT’s news, Yeti Airlines conducted the first flight from the new airport's 3,000-metre runway. Although, domestic airlines have started their flights from the newly-built airport, international flights will commence on May 16 to coincide with Buddha Jayanti. MYSTICAL NEPAL Do we know that the country's first international airport, Tribhuvan International Airport, came into operation 67 years ago?  Details: Gautam Buddha International Airport    

 Election code of conduct -2022 The Election Commission today issued a 78-page election code of conduct requiring political parties to make payments for expenses incurred during election campaign through the banking system. MYSTICAL NEPAL * The poll panel has set code for political parties, media, voters, poll observers, government employees, and general public. * The main points of the code of conduct are: The code prohibits the use of public property during campaigning. * It prohibits people from creating fake accounts on social networking sites in order to influence polls. * It prohibits people from making hateful speeches or misleading remarks against anybody on social networking sites. * It stipulates that political parties should designate an officer responsible for campaign expenditure. * It stipulates that parties receiving more than Rs 25,000 in donation from any person should receive it through the banking system. * Political parties should submit details ...