Dominance of Khas-Arya in the House of Representatives
Out of 164 MPs elected, Khas-Arya 94, Tribal 41, Madhesi 28 and Dalit 1, Muslims zero
Kathmandu – The Khas-Arya community is dominant among the MPs who directly won the House of Representatives election. The representation of the Muslim community, which occupies 4 percent of the population, is zero. The Sherpa tribe of the Himalayas has not been represented.
One person from the Dalit community, which constitutes 13 percent of the population, and one person from the minority Himalayan tribals have won the election as members of the House of Representatives.
As of Thursday, out of the 164 directly elected members of the House of Representatives, 94 are Khas-Arya (about 57 percent). This number is likely to increase further from the constituencies that are yet to receive election results. In the elections five years ago, 87 people from the Khas-Arya community won direct elections.
There are 41 tribals (25 percent) among the elected. The share of tribals in the population is 35 percent. Among those who won from the tribal community, there are Newar 9, Magar 5, Rai 5, Gurung 5, Tamang 4 and Tharu 6. One Lama was elected from Thakali 1 and minority tribals. “There seems to be a few percent increase in tribals than in the past, but there is a big gap in the ratio of the population,” said anthropologist Muktasinh Lama. In the general election of 2074, 34 tribes were directly elected to the House of Representatives.
Among those directly elected, there are 28 Madhesi (17 percent) and one Dalit (0.6 percent). 9 women (about 6 percent) were elected from Khas-Arya, Madhesi and tribal communities. According to the 2068 census, 16.6 percent are Chhetri, 12.2 percent Pahari Brahmin, 7.12 percent Magar, 6.56 percent Tharu and 5.81 percent Tamang. The 10 largest castes are followed by Newar, Kami, Muslim, Yadav and Rai respectively.
Political analyst Rajendra Maharjan commented that the major party has continued the tradition of ignoring tribals, Dalits, Madhesi, Muslims and minority communities this year as well. “In tribal majority areas, there is a compulsion to raise tribal candidates because the representatives of the respective communities will face defeat,” he said. Otherwise, the ticket will be taken by those in power within the party.’
Among the tribals who won the election, 8 are from Congress and 12 are from UML. There are 7 people from the Maoist center, out of which one is from a minority community. 4 from the United Socialist Party, 3 from the Civil Liberation Party have won. 2 from RPP and 1 each from Nepal Labor Party, National Independent Party, Jaspa and Independent were elected.
Prakashman Singh, Tek Bahadur Gurung, Tejulal Chaudhary, Dig Bahadur Limbu, Dhanraj Gurung and Sita Gurung from the tribal community elected by the Congress are old faces in Parliament. Poorna Bahadur Tamang, Yogesh Gauchan Thakali, Kham Bahadur Garbuja are new. Subas Nemwang, Prithvisubba Gurung, Krishnagopal Shrestha, Vasantakumar Nemwang, LP Sanwa Limbu, Bhagwati Chaudhary, Leelanath Shrestha and Rajendra Kumar Rai elected from UML have been MPs before. Manveer Rai, Prem Bahadur Maharjan, Man Bahadur Gurung and Tara Lama Tamang are the new faces. Varshman Pun, Ramkumar Rai, Sudan Kirati, Suryaman Dong Tamang, Hit Bahadur Tamang, Purna Bahadur Ghartimar and Chhiring Dandul Lama (Vote) have been elected from Maoists. Metmani Chaudhary, Prem Bahadur Ale, Krishna Kumar Shrestha and Dhan Bahadur Budha are the tribal faces elected from the Integrated Samajwadi Party.
Ranjita Shrestha, Arun Kumar Chaudhary and Gangaram Tharu have been elected from the Civil Liberation Party which was born by making Tharuhat a political issue. Rajendra Prasad Lingden and Dhruva Bahadur Pradhan won the election from RPP. Similarly, Prem Suwal from Nemkipa, Virajbhakta Shrestha from Raswapa, Ashok Kumar Rai from Jaspa and Lalveer Choudhary from Independent have won.
Rights activist Gobind Chantyal says that since the constitution with inclusiveness and secularism came about due to the force of the movement, laws should be made even if minorities are not represented in the next parliament. “Elected tribal parliamentarians should be responsible for the community, not against the past protests,” he said, “should be responsible for changing the system.”
Madhesi 28 people
28 people have been elected from Madhesi roots in the House of Representatives. This is 17 percent of the total number of seats. The data shows that more than half of the total population is in the Terai Madhes, 15 percent of them belong to the Madhesi community. “It seems that one seat has decreased compared to before, but it can be understood that the parties that raised the issue of Madhes earlier are weak,” said the anthropologist Lama.
Janmat Party has emerged as a new power in Madhes. Janmat Party’s Chandrakant (CK) Raut has been elected after defeating Janata Samajwadi Party President Upendra Yadav, who has been at the center of Madhes politics for a decade and a half. From Jaspa, Pradeep Yadav won in Parsa, Ramsahay Prasad Yadav in Bara, Nawalkishore Sah Sudi in Saptari, Rajkishore Yadav in Sirha-2 and Birendra Prasad Mahato in Sirha-4.
Sarvendranath Shukla, Ram Prakash Chaudhary and Mahant Thakur were elected from the Democratic Socialist Party. Ramkrishna Yadav, Ajay Kumar Chaurasia, Mahendra Kumar Rai, Dinesh Kumar Yadav, Vinod Kumar Chaudhary and Mahendra Yadav won from Congress. Julikumari Mahato (Mahaseth), Rajkumar Gupta, Jwalakumari Sah, Lakshmi Mahato Koiri, Ramshankar Yadav, Mangalprasad Gupta have been elected from UML.
Dalit alone
From the Dalit community, which constitutes 13 percent of the total population, only one person has won directly in the House of Representatives. Chavi Lal Vishwakarma won from UML in Rupandehi-1. The Maoists fielded Maheshwarjang Gahatraj (Athak) and Anjana Bishankhe as candidates, both of them were defeated. The Congress did not field a Dalit candidate.
“The Dalit community is not given the most priority, which was also seen in this election,” analyst Rajendra Maharjan said, “In Kathmandu, Dalit women candidates were raised against their own coalition.” The process of neglecting those who are the most oppressed seems to be continuous.’ He said that the parties are aiming to make the Dalit community a vote bank and establish the comment that they are not eligible. “Only if the president of a party is a Dalit, the candidate from the Dalit community will be given priority,” he said.
Chairman of the National Dalit Commission, Devraj Vishwakarma, said that the result was low because the mainstream party had neglected the representation of Dalits in direct candidates. ‘Due to the traditional mentality of the parties, Dalit leaders were not given priority,’ he said, ‘democracy and constitution were not followed.’ Journalist JB Vishwakarma says that Dalits have been left behind because there is no leadership formation system and plan to make candidates in the parties. “In all struggles and movements, Dalits are put forward to win, but in democracy, there is a reluctance to make Dalit candidates,” he said.
Minorities 1, Muslims nil
Only one MP has been elected from the 98 minority communities listed by the government. Chhiring Dundul Lama was elected from Humla. Not a single person was elected to the House of Representatives from the Muslim community, which accounts for 4 percent of the total population. Anthropologist Lama said that there should be 11 Muslims based on proportional representation. “During the selection of constitutionally proportional candidates, Dalits, minority tribal tribes, women, Muslims and minority communities should be given priority on the basis of population,” he said.
