In the first Constituent Assembly elections since the end of the two and a half century monarchy, parties including the Congress, UML, and Maoists shared the dream of a new Nepal by drafting a new constitution.
What you should know
Nepal's political history will one day write that the Constituent Assembly elections of 2064 and 2070 BS were a powerful event. These two elections are of a different significance than others because they produced a constitution with a federal republic.
Seven parties, including the Congress and the UML, who had peacefully protested against the autocratic monarchy, and the Maoists, who were engaged in armed struggle, had joined the first Constituent Assembly in 2064 BS after the success of the United People's Movement.
In the Constituent Assembly elections to be held for the first time after the end of the two and a half centuries of monarchy, the Congress, the UML, and the Maoists, who had entered the peace process, had shared the dream of a new Nepal by drafting a new constitution.
After the establishment of federal republican democracy, the parties dreamed of building a new Nepal in the Constituent Assembly elections. But even in the six years of the first Constituent Assembly, they failed to draft a constitution. Only in the second Constituent Assembly held in 2070 BS did they succeed in writing a 'socialist-oriented' constitution with federalism, republicanism, and secularism. In both Constituent Assembly elections, the parties mainly drew the blueprint of the new constitution in their manifestos.
The dreams of a new Nepal shown by the parties in the two Constituent Assembly elections have not yet been fulfilled. On the eve of the 2082 House of Representatives elections, what dreams did the parties express in their election manifestos 18 (2064) and 12 (2070) years ago? How many of those dreams were fulfilled? Here is an analysis.
In the first Constituent Assembly election of 2064, the Congress had put forward the issue of laying the foundation for the constitution-making process by considering ‘prosperity, self-respect and equality’ as the main basis. Since the Maoists had recently joined the peace process, it had also raised the issue of ‘peace, security and freedom’ as a major issue. The establishment of a ‘federal democratic republic based on pluralism’ was its bottom line. 
‘Historical context and need for a Constituent Assembly The Congress has been demanding a Constituent Assembly since its inception (2006). Our basic belief is that the country’s governance system should be run according to the constitution made by representatives elected by the people,’ the Congress had written in its manifesto at that time. His commitment was to ‘end the monarchy and establish a federal democratic republic, institutionalize and ensure the sovereignty vested in the Nepali people, and ensure social justice.’
The Congress’s commitment was to ‘recognize the ethnic, linguistic, cultural, religious, and regional diversity in Nepali society as the heritage of Nepali nationality and embody it in a system of federal democratic republican state structure that is voiced by the aspirations of identity and autonomy from various regions of Nepal, including indigenous peoples, nationalities, and Madhesis.’
There was a lot of debate about federal provinces in the first Constituent Assembly. The Congress emphasized national integrity, geographical location and suitability, population, natural resources, and economic potential, interrelationships between provinces, linguistic/ethnic and cultural density, and political/administrative potential as the main bases for province formation. He said that it would encompass the feelings of Madhesis, indigenous peoples, Dalits, and various other groups living in various areas of the Terai, hills, and mountains.
The Congress was also committed to promoting democracy, a balanced foreign policy, and good governance to promote national unity. After the first Constituent Assembly failed to draft a constitution, the main slogan of the Congress in the second Constituent Assembly in 2070 was ‘A federal constitution with identity and strength: a democratic republic, the campaign of the Congress’. The Congress had put forward the subsidiary slogan ‘Nepal’s prosperity: agricultural, tourism, and energy development, industrial revolution’. The Congress had proposed 7 provinces for the creation of provinces based on identity and strength. This took shape when the constitution was promulgated.
Many programs for economic, development, and social reform were continued in the manifesto of the second Constituent Assembly. In the first election of 2064, the main emphasis of the UML was on the establishment of a democratic republic.
‘Let us establish a federal democratic republic, let us build a strong and prosperous Nepal’ was the main slogan of the UML. Since the main task of the Constituent Assembly was the formulation of the constitution, its main goal was ‘Election of the Constituent Assembly: democracy, sustainable peace, and progress’.
‘The UML will build the basis of a new democratic state structure to address the problems of the victimized communities who have been marginalized due to the discriminatory social structure and flawed state structure,’ the UML had promised. The main issues of the UML manifesto 2064 included ending the monarchy and establishing a republic, establishing a participatory and inclusive democracy based on plurality with economic and social rights, restructuring the existing centralized feudal state structure to establish a federal democratic republic, and ending all forms of economic exploitation and establishing a class-based egalitarian state system.
The UML, which aimed to establish a strong and prosperous Nepal, envisioned a mixed-model economy. It put forward issues such as education, health, employment, tourism, water resources, and expressed its commitment to Nepal’s identity, independence, and national interests in its foreign policy.
In the second Constituent Assembly 2070, the UML had put forward a policy of forming a government under its leadership. ‘The right policy, UML’ was the UML’s claim in the manifesto. ‘UML’s Vision: Establishing a Happy Nepali and an Equality-Based Prosperous Nepal’ was the theme of the party’s agenda in the Constituent Assembly after the 2064 constitution.
Maintaining the agreement reached between the parties in the 2064 Constituent Assembly, the UML prioritized economic issues. ‘Nepal will be upgraded from a least developed country to a developing country by achieving significant achievements in per capita income, social and physical development, and human development indicators,’ was the UML’s commitment.
UML also pledged to provide a grant of 5 million to VDCs, properly manage the 400,000 labor force entering the labor market every year, create 300,000 jobs every year, and not to ‘shut down Nepal’ over any demand, complaint, or protest. ‘Politics is not a profession, it is a service. The party calls on all its cadres to take politics as a service, become self-reliant by connecting with production work, and clean up politics,’ the UML had vowed.
The Maoists, which entered competitive politics in 2064 after ending a ten-year armed war, had given the slogan at that time, ‘We have looked at everyone many times, let’s look at the Maoists this time.’ It had put forward Pushpa Kamal Dahal as the directly elected executive president. 
The Maoists had launched a nationwide election campaign with Dahal as the frontrunner. In the first Constituent Assembly, the Maoists had won 100 proportional seats out of 601 and 120 seats directly.
‘The system of an executive president elected through a direct electoral system at the center and a prime minister elected by the members of the legislature’ was the Maoist form of government.
The Maoists had put forward federalism, republicanism and secularism as the main mantras in the Constituent Assembly. The Maoists had mainly proposed that Nepal be divided into 11 autonomous republican states and additional sub-autonomous states or units within them, taking into account ethnic composition, geographical compatibility, linguistic basis, economic potential, etc. in the federal structure.
The Maoists had also put forward ambitious plans including 10,000 megawatts of electricity generation in the next 10 years and free basic health care for all. In the second Constituent Assembly election of 2070 BS, the Maoists had made ‘progressive constitution and egalitarian prosperity,’ ‘federalism with identity and inclusive-proportional democracy: the main mantra of the new progressive constitution’ the main issues.
The Maoists had promised to make Nepal self-reliant and egalitarian prosperity, double-digit economic growth and end dependency in 15 years. After 2064 BS, the Maoists have been in government all but twice in the 18 years since 2007 BS. The main task they promised was the constitution-making. But the ambitious programs are limited to the manifesto.
In 2007 BS, the Madhesi Janadhikar Forum had brought out a manifesto in Hindi. It had put forward the issues of the government as the chief executive president, unity of the Terai: protection of the rights of the Madhesis, the Madhesi community having their own province and secularism. 
It had given priority to federalism with identity. In its 2070 manifesto, it had also raised the issue of inclusive democracy, direct executive head of government, and constituencies based on population.
The Rastriya Prajatantra Party had raised the issue of Hindu nation as a priority in 2064. After the 2062/63 Jan Andolan moved forward on the path of establishing a republic as an alternative to monarchy, the RPP had raised the issue of Hindu religion. In its 2070 election manifesto, the RPP seems to have abandoned the issue of monarchy.
The Rastriya Prajatantra Party had raised the issue of Hindu nation as a priority in 2064. ‘The Rastriya Prajatantra Party has assimilated the federal democratic multi-party republic as a political system. The party is guided and committed to this system,’ the RPP manifesto said, ‘It has been proposed that the federal democratic multi-party republic will be the political system of Nepal in the new constitution.’
But he proposed a nation with an eternal civilization, saying that Nepal is a multi-ethnic, multilingual, multi-religious, multicultural and geographically diverse country, and that unity, coordination and tolerance have been maintained among the diversity for centuries.
In 2064 and 2070, the Nepal Workers and Peasants Party had put forward the issue of giving the zones formed on the basis of geography in Nepal the form of provinces, which would be practical. Nepal Sadbhavana Party Ananda Devi, while making public a manifesto in Hindi, had put forward the honor of the Madhesis, our identity, Nepal Desh Madhesh Province, democratic competition, and a mixed economic policy.
Researcher Lokranjan Parajuli believes that the unstable government is the main reason for the parties' non-implementation of their election manifestos. He says that the parties have failed to implement their election commitments because the government keeps changing.
