When Prachanda’s channel ABC kept referring to the “dhandali”
in this elections, including the fact the political representatives of various
parties were not allowed to accompany the ballot boxes to the locations where
they were stored, I suggested that this in fact may not be a fiction of the
losing party’s imagination, but a concrete reality. It appeared strange to me
none of the RPP factions, none of the ethnic parties, none of the Madhesh
parties won in any significant way in this election, especially in light of the
disillusionment the majority of the people felt with the big parties. The Maoists’s
loss was understandable—but what about all the others?
A relative of mine got very irritated with me at this point, and
said that sleigh-of-hand of any kind was impossible. It was an internationally
observed elections, he said. The Army accompanied the ballot boxes to the
counting stations. Any deception was simply impossible.
I asked if representatives of the political parties
accompanied the ballot boxes into the trucks. He said that political parties
representatives do go along on those trucks, and that the rooms are sealed
overnight. “Its not that difficult to put five people to sleep, and have some
storage in the floor of the truck with substitute ballot boxes,” I joked. “Don’t
talk about these magic tricks to people outside, they will think you are
totally nuts,” my abovementioned relative warned me.
Of course, it appeared now that there was really no need for
magic tricks. The ballot boxes were apparently in the trucks without any
political party representatives to oversee them, and also left unattended
overnight. Plenty of time for some sleigh of hand without needing to build
elaborate, fake, ballot box holding storage in the floor of the trucks.
Dr. Prakash Chandra Lohani also alleged fraud. According to
this Kantipur report (http://www.ekantipur.com/the-kathmandu-post/2013/11/24/top-story/more-parties-claim-polls-were-unfair/256132.html),
this is what he said:
“Our agents were not allowed to travel in vehicles that
carried the ballot boxes,” senior Rastriya Prajatantra Party leader Prakash
Chandra Lohani told the Post. In an opinion article in Kantipur Daily on
Sunday, Lohani said the ballot boxes from his constituency were allowed to be
kept under the Army without the presence of the party’s agents.
The article also mentions that Madhesi Janadhikar
Forum-Nepal Chairman Upendra Yadav made similar claims.
It appears, from reading various news reports from various
parts of the country, that there might have been a concentrated effort to “help”
the two major parties win through an overwhelming majority.
Of course, the election process is intrinsically susceptible
to fraud. Anybody who thinks voting reflects the will of the majority is
fooling themselves. Primarily because there is no “majority” who thinks with
such bloc mentality—in reality, people’s loyalties are probably more fractured,
and if a true accounting were to be held, it would probably show a lot more minority
opinions than this elections has made room for.
For the majority of the people who did not vote (two-third
of the Nepali population did not vote because they are not eligible for various
reasons, or because they haven’t yet received the proper documents), the
elections is a spectacle to be watched with cynicism and a sort of weary
wisdom. “This is just a way for politicians to make money. Once the donors
leave, these priorities will change, and all these issues will lose prominence,”
one young man told me.
The donors, however, are not leaving anytime soon. So until
and unless some strong-willed Nepali leader shows up, willing to clean up the
mess and impose a genuine leadership which benefits the people, it looks like the
status quo is unlikely to change anytime soon.
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