Politics becomes a subject of hatred for some, a ladder of power for some. However, politics is neither of these and should not be. No matter how much politics is ignored, the people have no other option than to participate in periodic elections. Elections are the means by which the dreams of the common people reach the heights of power. For the people living in ‘mass frustration’ and whose values ​​of life have been shattered, elections are a special weapon of vitalist dreams.

Whenever the election wave starts, some person emerges as a famous leader. And, the interesting stories of those leaders become myths and history over time. Some leaders are resurrected from their own electoral ashes time and again. 

The three pillars of elections—‘suffrage’, ‘right to stand as a candidate’ and ‘fairness of voting’— advocate for equality, rule of law and inclusiveness. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights – 1948 states—the basis of power is the will of the people. And, some leaders create glorious history through elections in the ‘will’ of the people. If elections are the lungs of democracy, then the rule of law is its breath. Because, the dignity of elections remains only if they are conducted according to the law. And, elections are indispensable to prevent the dreams of the people from being trampled upon. 

The beautiful definition of elections discusses human rights. This word, formed after the prefix ‘nir’ is added to the word ‘vachan’, means – not to speak. The act of choosing a person of your choice without speaking or through signs is – election. 

And, ‘Aam’, i.e., the act of many people choosing someone by remaining silent, is the name of the act of – general election, which is considered the most progressive system of human civilization. It provides a peaceful transfer of power and authority.

In elections, some candidates accidentally become such ‘stars’ for the people, whose attractive and charismatic personality attracts voters. Some leaders who enter politics are approved by the people. For example – Hem Bahadur Malla, Sharda Malla in Nepali politics, whose votes have become an impregnable fortress in Nepali politics for decades. One was – Nanimaiya Dahal, who has always been in the news of Nepali politics.

Padmaratna Tuladhar, Govindanath Upreti, Rupchandra Bista, Bhim Bahadur Shrestha, Jagruti Prasad Bhetwal, Madan Bhandari, who defeated Krishna Prasad Bhattarai, who created the image of a saintly leader, Jhakku Prasad Subedi, Ravi Lamichhane, Balendra (Balen) Shah, Hark Sampang. The list of leaders who become 'heroes' of the voters can be long. These are some politicians, whose votes are being discussed by the political center, and Nepali political culture keeps them imprisoned in the frame of 'leader'. Why do voters make a new character an 'icon' in every election? What does the trend of votes seen towards these leaders indicate?

Before discussing these issues, let us look back at the political history of some famous leaders.

In every election, someone becomes a 'man of the election', but history cannot continue to be made. In the 2048 general election, UML General Secretary Madan Bhandari defeated the incumbent Prime Minister Krishna Prasad Bhattarai in the election. Bhandari had secured 27,372 votes, while Bhattarai's vote was 26,621. At that time, it was said that the 'craze' of Madan Bhandari, who had recently entered open politics from underground politics, had played a role in this. 

In the 2043 general election, there was a 'hero' (National Panchayat member) - Hem Bahadur Malla, elected from Dhanusha, whose 'voting record' has not been broken by another leader in Nepal. Malla won the National Panchayat (Panchayat Parliament) membership by getting 93,149 votes. He also won his wife Sharda Malla and brought her to the National Panchayat with him. Sharda, who ran with the 'dunga' election symbol, received 53,996 votes.

Hem Bahadur's election symbol was - 'elephant'. However, he was the famous 'Shere' of politics. That is, 'Shere Dhanusha'. How did he become 'Shere Dhanusha'? His name and work changed from the 2038 BS election, and the word 'Shere', which means 'lion', became synonymous with him.

Politics is not static. After Hem Bahadur won the election, 'Parliament' (including the Constituent Assembly) and 'local' elections have been held 6 times in Nepal, and the number of voters has not increased. However, the same Hem Bahadur Malla is smiling in the pages of history after getting the most votes. 

In 2043 BS, when 'Shere Dhanusha' received the most votes, the 'Sher' of Kathmandu was - the Janata Party candidate Padmaratna Tuladhar, who received the second most votes after Hem Bahadur and won the election from Kathmandu. The votes received by Tuladhar were - 86 thousand 155. Padmaratna In 2043 BS, 150 candidates stood in the National Panchayat elections. During the Panchayat period, all candidates used to stand independently. Padma Ratna was the common candidate of political parties that were running underground activities demanding a multi-party system. Even though the parties were not 'open', they had a very strong hold on society. Moreover, the capital Kathmandu was an area with a majority of 'multi-party' parties. 

When the referendum was held in 2037, after the amendment to the constitution, the elections to the National Panchayat were held on the basis of adult suffrage. In that darkness of the Panchayat era, the first general election was held through 'adult suffrage' in 2038. The one who got the most votes in that too was Malla. There were 227,130 voters in Dhanusha. Malla got 76,270 votes. Thus, the 'wish' of the people of the Panchayat was Malla. 

After the third amendment to the constitution issued in 2019, the king nominated 28 people in the 'National Panchayat', 112 people were elected from 75 districts. Thus, there were 140 members in the National Panchayat. One constituency was decided in 38 districts and two in 37 districts. In districts with two constituencies, the two candidates who received the most votes won the election. 

When King Birendra held a referendum in 2037 BS, the panchayats won from all over the country, but the multi-party system had a majority in Kathmandu. Therefore, the underground parties supported Tuladhar with a strategy of going inside the panchayats and opposing the panchayat system itself. 

The magazine 'Nepal Bhasha', edited by Tuladhar, was extremely popular among the Newar community. Tuladhar was once the editor of the weekly duo 'Rajmati' and the senior editor of 'Rato Yugdhara'. Tuladhar was also the founding president of the 'Nepal Bhasha Manka Khal', an organization that preserves the language and culture of the Newars. 'Under his leadership, Manka Khal had also started a campaign and movement to recognize Nepal Sambat since 2036,' says cultural activist Suresh Kiran. That is why Tuladhar was a famous leader. 

At that time, during the Kathmandu Nagar Panchayat elections, the Congress had nominated Haribol Bhattarai and Tirtharam Dangol as the Pradhan Panchayat and the Upa Pradhan Panchayat. In a speech in the same series, Ganeshman Singh had said, ‘Kathmandu is in the hands of the democrats, here we can win even if we lift only one stick’, which became very famous. Tuladhar’s election symbol was – ‘Surya’. That symbol became so popular that in the 2048 elections, ‘Surya’ also became the choice of the UML. 

‘The multi-partyists had a strong hold in Kathmandu,’ says Suresh Kiran, who has written a book on Padmaratna, ‘Padmaratna was a strong candidate of all three multi-partyists.’ Padmaratna had confessed – if he won, he would oppose the national panchayat itself. That is why all the multi-partyists were his supporters. At that time, besides Tuladhar, there were candidates from various districts – Roop Chandra Bista, Somnath Pyasi, Jagruti Prasad Bhetwal, etc., who entered the election with the tag of ‘people’s candidate’. Among them, perhaps Padmaratna was the candidate for the capital, so his campaign went nationwide. 

Suresh remembers Padmaratna’s election campaign, ‘To see how much momentum there was in his election campaign, there were election campaign committees in the neighborhoods. People themselves would buy clothes from the police station and find places to put up banners. In that election, Padmaratna did not have to spend a single penny from his own pocket, all the expenses were met through donations.’ 

It was not just an election campaign to win the Padmaratna, it was also a political activity against the Panchayat system. 

Now let’s remember Nanimaiya Dahal, an evergreen figure in politics. The political history of Nepal would be incomplete without her story. She was the 'famous' leader of the national legislature of the panchayat system, the 'National Panchayat', which banned parties. 

In the National Panchayat elections held on 27 Baisakh 2038 after the referendum of 2037, the candidate from Kathmandu was Nanimaiya Dahal. Her election symbol was a clock. Along with Dahal, another candidate was Minister Jogmehar Shrestha, whose election symbol was a bicycle. 

The votes received by Dahal in that election were 65,777. Shrestha had brought 29,741 votes. Thus, these two candidates won the National Panchayat membership. Nanimaiya surpassed the incumbent minister by more than double the votes. 

The 'story' of Dahal's victory in the election results is always in the news. The reason is the different and ironic choice of Kathmandu voters. It is sometimes said about Kathmandu – ‘The city that makes Nanimaiya win!’

After the victory of the Panchayat in the referendum, the multi-party system turned its anger on Nanimaiya, a ‘non-political character’ (who had become the deputy president of the village panchayat), by making her the winner. This is explained and analyzed in politics – anger expressed in a peaceful manner. And, in this way, the anti-Panchayatists made Nanimaiya win through a campaign, with the help of banned parties. Writer-analyst CK Lal had said to ‘Kantipur’ about Nanimaiya’s victory, ‘Who is a complete outsider. Who is nowhere in the hierarchy of that time. At that time, a student and even a supporter of Dahal – because of his image, such a person should be sent to the national panchayat, such a person would rather ‘rock the ship’.’

Political analysts say that ‘the struggle between the liberal and conservative camps of the panchayat worked’ in Nanimaiya’s victory. CK Lal has said, ‘The conservatives thought that she would fix the liberal panchayat. The multi-partyists thought that she could be the one to overthrow the system. She received the support of both.’ (Nanimaiya Dahal’s ‘Ghadi’, Magh 29, 2081). 

Nearly 500 people were elected to the panchayat. Among them, only Balaram Gharti and Nawaraj Subedi represented for 25 consecutive years. 

In each election, voters make different and completely unique decisions than the previous election. Such a story is repeated more in Kathmandu or urban areas. For example, Kathmandu Mayor Balen is a character who emerged from a non-political 'rap' and won with a landslide victory. In the 2079 local elections, independent candidate Balendra Sah (Balen) was elected as the mayor of Kathmandu Metropolitan City with 61,767 votes. Sah's closest rival, Nepali Congress candidate Sirjana Singh, got 38,341 votes and CPN-UML candidate Keshav Sthapit got 38,117 votes. 

In the 2079 House of Representatives elections, out of 83,956 people who voted, Ravi Lamichhane got 49,264 votes in Chitwan-2. Ravi also got 54,176 votes in the Chitwan by-election.

Why does this happen? CK Lal said, 'There are people with independent income in urban areas. People who do small jobs, do business, and students don't care much about the game of power. They express their anger through candidates who seem rebellious and 'radical'. It is known that such candidates do not do much. However, they think of taking a selfie just because they shake up the status quo once.'

In this way, why do voters make a new character an 'icon' in every election? What does the voting trend of these leaders indicate? Why doesn't a party that wins once win the next time? Why do people so much believe a slightly 'charismatic', slightly 'mysterious' person who says 'I will solve all the problems at once'? Does voter education also play a role in this? 

According to Hari Bahadur Thapa, author of the book 'Party Conflict', journalist and expert on parliamentary system, if a similar character, character or party takes over politics or does bad things, the people are at risk of revenge. ‘At such times, the people look for characters who can expose the injustice or the system and send characters who are different from what Nepali society is seeing or experiencing into politics,’ he says, ‘and, through them, the people destroy both politics and the system. This trend should be understood as voters taking revenge on the system and those in power.’ 

There is a concern in poor societies around the world – that all issues should be improved at once. In a country like Nepal, there are thousands of issues that need to be improved. In such a situation, society wants everything to be done at once. At such times, the people have the idea of ​​making a unique decision – political analyst, writer Bishnu Sapkota. 

‘No matter who is elected, a miracle will not happen at once, but still, whoever the electoral wave goes in, the one who says he will fix everything all at once will be the one who says he will fix everything all at once. Nepali society has not reached the point of understanding, analyzing and voting on the basis of what policies he will bring and how to implement them. The people's eagerness to have everything good at once cannot be called unjustified, but it is definitely a characteristic of weak democracy and poor social consciousness,' says Bishnu.

The reason why a single party did not win again? In Bishnu's understanding, it is the impatience of the people. 'If only people would vote after looking at the policies and understanding the programs they have brought! Moreover, those who write them do not believe that the policies written in the manifestos of Nepal's parties will be implemented.' Therefore, the short-term craze seen in Nepal as a whole is an interesting example of Nepali society.

In a serious sense, there is no voter education in Nepal. There is a large group of 'legacy voters' in Nepal. For example, those who have fathers and uncles who are communists will vote for the Communist Party throughout their lives. 'They are not communists in any way, nor do they agree with any communist principles, but there is a large unconscious community that votes for UML. The same thing happened in the Congress,’ says Bishnu, ‘They understand the essence of democracy, and they do it not because an open economy is good, but because they are from such a legacy family.’ 

He thinks that the reason for the voters’ confusion is that some mysterious person will ‘do something.’ ‘And, one of the main factors seen in the past years is the votes cast because their children who have gone abroad to work say ‘put so-and-so in’. The youth and those living abroad seem to be very angry with the old parties. This will definitely have an impact in the upcoming elections as well,’ says Bishnu.

Political analyst Jhalak Subedi believes that voter education does not affect the fact that only one leader is the ‘man of the election’. He feels that social psychology and tendencies affect the voters’ decisions. Just as in his opinion, the victory of Hark, Balen, and Ravi is an ‘undercurrent’ vote, and the way the underground Maoists brought votes in the 2064 elections is also an ‘undercurrent’ vote, the issue of Jhakku Subedi defeating Madhav Nepal is also an ‘undercurrent’, i.e. a silent rebellion expressed through the establishment or vote.

‘That ‘undercurrent’ means that the common people can form a single vote across the country. However, that vote is from outside the elite. The reason why Nanimaiya Dahal brought a wide vote is the vote of the elite – that victory is a satire on the state by the conscious and educated group of Kathmandu. Those who have gone to the Gulf, are educated, or unemployed, who have been ignored by the power elite of political parties, this is the silent rebellion of those.’

In Jhalak’s opinion, the victory of Padmaratna is an organized effort and popular vote of Male, and Hem Bahadur took advantage of the feudal organization of society, the administration and power were close to him. 

Congress and UML have been getting the same number of votes since the 2009 elections except for 2011. Jhalak feels that the middle class and capitalist class are seeking stability by trusting the system or there is a saying in society, ‘I will not leave what my grandparents voted for.’ ‘Nepali voters are fickle, they are constantly looking for change,’ says Jhalak.

The issue of Hem Bahadur winning a wide vote is a hot topic in Nepali politics. Analyst and columnist Chandra Kishore feels that Hem Bahadur had a different electoral ‘brand’. ‘Winning both men and women was a politics of protection. He used to win elections unwaveringly on the strength of spreading the feeling that I am your protector in the majority community deprived of the state, I have access and control in the government, and only I can fulfill your needs,’ says Chandra Kishore. ‘There are several examples of candidates who created a pro-people image during the multi-party era winning elections by a good margin. Although it will be difficult to win elections on the basis of caste, money, propaganda, and fraud, there will be no widespread rise until his fighting spirit is evident among the general public.'