There has been sharp criticism that the proportional and direct candidate nominations for the House of Representatives elections to be held on February 21 have not been distributed on the basis of gender equality and inclusiveness.

Directly, how did the parties implement the mandatory representation of one-third of women in 165 constituencies? It is natural to be interested in this issue. 

First of all, the UML party, which has finalized the nomination of candidates in most of the constituencies, has a very low number of female candidates. The fact that not even a dozen women have been nominated in all the new and old parties means that the political background of women is considered weak and there is a tendency for financial bargaining and jobbers in ticket distribution. Some time ago, proportional representation should have been based on different classes, regions and gender, but it was not, so there was strong dissatisfaction among the people with the proportional-inclusive representation of the parties.

As the government, Election Commission, political parties and the entire citizen enthusiastically prepared for the elections, the parties should have given priority to women's candidacies so that women, who constitute half of the country's population, have one-third representation in the upcoming parliament and government. In addition, complaints have emerged this time that women, who constitute half of the country's population, are being demanded crores of rupees to field candidates and that they have not been given tickets because they could not pay the amount.

The situation of having to pay crores to get tickets has created a situation where ‘our’ candidates are killing candidates rather than ‘good’ ones. It is certainly not easy and possible for women candidates to get party tickets by paying huge amounts of money. The patriarchal thinking established in the parties, the influence of the swindlers and financial transactions are also the reasons for the decrease in the number of women candidates. 

If women’s candidacies can be increased and their representation in parliament and government can be increased, the rule of law can be implemented and corruption can be eliminated in the country, peace, prosperity and good governance will be established. 

It is natural for everyone to pay attention to women’s candidacies in a general election led by a female Prime Minister. In fact, to remove political uncertainty and instability and to make the country gender-equality-oriented, every party should have increased the number of women candidates to at least one-third.

The first point of institutionalizing gender equality and inclusiveness is the high number of women candidates in elections. Why was Prime Minister Sushila Karki, who led the government in the country's difficult situation and brought the country to the brink of elections, unable to break the patriarchal rut that has been seen in every previous election that has ignored female candidacies? What is her decisive role in establishing gender equality and inclusive leadership in the upcoming parliament and government? Why were women sidelined in candidacies even from the so-called new and expected parties?

On the issue of giving one-third of women candidacies, there is still a narrow-minded belief among parties that 'women cannot bring votes, cannot win the hearts of the people, cannot spend the money they have, cannot make serious decisions, cannot get approval from their families to deal with special situations.

It was seen that new and old parties, plagued by this gender-discriminatory mindset, have gained a foothold in giving tickets directly to women. It is ironic that even the concept of proportional representation, which was adopted with the aim of bringing every community of society into the mainstream of the state, has been captured in the hands of the party's influential and influential people. 

Why did the parties fail to adopt equality and inclusiveness in their candidacies even after the Gen-G movement? As per the demands of Gen-G, an increase in women's candidacies was necessary for the eradication of corruption and good governance. After the 2062/63 People's Movement in Nepal, when many women reached leadership at various levels, there have been some positive changes in the field of women's upliftment and prosperity. Let's remove the belief and mentality that 'women are weaker than men' and now give women the same rights as men in every field. 

  Every voter has a nationalist desire that the candidates they have chosen, using their own will and discretion, should not become tarnished, criticized, and corrupt as soon as they come to power. Even when citizens use their discretion and vote for new faces and win them, believing that changing leaders will change their morality along with their national policies and prosperity, the trend of embracing the character of the old parties and people's representatives as soon as they seize political power and rule has been recurring.

Therefore, it is necessary for citizens to be very careful in the selection of people's representatives now. We need people's representatives who will remove disappointment and instill hope for national development. The people, who have seen the past activities and corruption of leaders and leadership, now need to exercise complete discretion and personal freedom in the selection of people's representatives without succumbing to threats, greed, deception and selfishness.

The atmosphere of the election is heating up amidst doubts about whether the election will be held or not. Along with the nomination of candidates, parties are preparing manifestos and engaging in election campaigns in their respective areas. In the past, when the so-called big parties entered the elections in alliances, the greed for power, personal self-interest, arbitrariness, mutual strife and division of power among them threw the country into turmoil and the country had to face the destructive situation of the Gen-G movement. The people will be able to select parties and representatives by understanding the capacity, relevance and potential of the manifestos of the parties. After the people's representatives are elected, only what they can and can implement should be included in the manifesto. The manifesto should not be made public just to lure the people with momentary assurances and win votes.

If they do not completely change themselves, the legitimacy and political dominance of the old parties will definitely end after the elections. New parties will not shirk their responsibilities and commitments by saying, "We will get votes only with the new party." What we need now is not just new parties and new people, but patriotic youth who will eradicate the old tendencies that are traitorous to the nation and the people.

Even though the characters in power have changed time and again, the Gen-G movement was born only after corruption, commission-taking, and personal interests crossed the limit. In line with this spirit and essence, the elections being held in Falgun should be successfully held in a peaceful environment without any rigging, with the cooperation and participation of everyone. It is the responsibility of the common citizen to put a person with selfless feelings and noble thoughts in the leadership of the government for the sake of national interest.

In the past, we have seen the process of changing power, constitution, characters and governance style repeatedly. However, due to their failure to change their bad tendencies against the national interest, the country could not change its course and the economic and political crisis continued to escalate. The government formed after the election should move forward with the spirit and essence of the Gen-G movement against corruption, misrule, underdevelopment and economic crisis, i.e. the spirit and essence of the civil rebellion. We should end nepotism and favoritism and adopt a policy of making the state egalitarian and prosperous. We should create an environment for citizens to live in the country for livelihood by increasing industry and business extensively. The government's support and partnership should be facilitated in the operation of industry and business so that the state becomes self-reliant from every perspective. Now, ordinary Nepalis should not have to leave the country for employment. Let equality, good governance and national prosperity be the main mantra and direction of the next elected government.