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It is very commendable of the Election Commission (EC) to rule out any foreign financial assistance for holding the local polls. That said, the budget earmarked for the EC to conduct the election is a whopping Rs. 10.3 billion—exclusive of the cost of security service. The total budget allocated for the local level election by the Ministry of Finance (MoF) is Rs. 20 billion. With that, the cost of this local election is 25 percent more than the election cost of the second constituent assembly. And this is only the first of the three elections that have to be held by January, 2018. It is hardly debatable that free, fair and regular elections form the foundation of a functioning democracy. Yet, ‘if there is a more cost effective way of exercising democracy’ is definitely a question that deserves some pondering upon. Likewise, while gearing up for the local polls, it would be worthwhile to reflect upon some of our past experiences with elections.
Alternatives for a Cost-Effective Democracy
To conduct an election, a substantial human resource has to be deployed for administration and security. Besides this, there are other material expenses incurred for setting up of polling booths and printing of ballot papers, publicity and trainings, preparation of voter lists and voter IDs. Closure of public schools for the entire week of the election day, and public holidays during the election further consume a great amount of productive time, and also affect economic activities during these days. And when the elections are held at three distant periods of time, all of these costs triple.
It would be highly cost effective if all three elections could be conducted simultaneously. Such a system has been in practice in the United States, and lately, Narendra Modi is also putting up efforts to have such a modality of election endorsed in India. This system has the potential to bring down the cost of elections substantially. For a country like Nepal, the cost-reduction that this system offers is a saving that could be channeled to other sectors.
Free and Fair Election—Need of a Code of Conduct (CoC)
The CoC is usually enforced by the EC right after the announcement of the election date, which is usually 120 days ahead of the polls. In our current case, the EC has delayed the enforcement of CoC and this has created avenues for the incumbent political parties to make administrative decisions such as transfers, and announcement of new programs in order to influence the electorate. A monitoring report on the second Constituent Assembly (CA) election published by Informal Sector Service Centre (INSEC) mentions that there were 912 cases of breach of Code of Conduct, mostly committed by mainstream political parties. Such cases of influencing the electorate weaken the fairness of elections, put newer and smaller parties at a disadvantage, and violate the spirit of a liberal democracy.
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भिडियो सहित हेर्नुहोस !
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