The candidates to be elected to the House of Representatives through the direct system have been decided. The counting of votes for the proportional system has also been completed. Now the number of MPs to be elected from the closed lists of the parties and their names will be decided accordingly. The number of seats won by the parties through the proportional system and how many people will be elected from which inclusive group has been determined in Schedule 12 of the ‘House of Representatives Member Proportional Election Guidelines, 2082’.

Therefore, parties do not have the freedom to increase or decrease the number of MPs elected from inclusive groups. However, even within this, parties have the facility and responsibility to give maximum priority to women. Because, Article 84 (8) of the Constitution states that ‘at least one-third of the total number of members elected from each political party representing the federal parliament shall be women’.

Since it is said ‘at least’, the facility to be able to elect as many as possible should be taken as a responsibility. This not only increases the representation of women in parliament and their role in lawmaking, but also increases the political capital of the parties.

From the proportional representation vote count, it is seen that only the RSVP, Congress, UML, NCP, Shram Sanskriti Party and RPP will get seats. The Election Commission has not officially announced it, however, it seems that the RSVP will get 57, Congress 20, UML 16, NCP 9, Shram Sanskriti Party and RPP 4 seats each.

The RSVP will get 182 seats in the parliament. 13 women have already been elected from this party. Therefore, at least 48 women will have to be elected from the proportional representation. The Congress is getting 38 seats in the House of Representatives. One of them is a woman. The Congress also has 24 seats in the National Assembly, including 6 women. In total, there will be 62 seats in the federal parliament. Of these, 21 should be women. The Congress currently has 7 women MPs, at least 14 women should be elected from the proportional representation. Similarly, 

UML will have to get at least 5 women elected from the proportional representation list. The NCP will have to elect at least 4 women, and the Labor Party and the RPP will have to elect at least 2/2 women.

There is a constitutional obligation for every party representing in the federal parliament to have at least one-third of women represented. But there is no obstacle to electing more than one-third. This is a place where parties can use their discretion, contribute to the women's movement, and increase the role of women in the decision-making process. The presence and contribution of women in any political movement in Nepal is not weak.

But their presence in parliament and government is still weak. It is not that there has been no improvement compared to before, but it has not happened as much as it should have and at the pace that should have been natural. That is why women's participation and ownership in the decision-making process has been weak. The proportional system, through which parties have now got a great opportunity to elect women MPs from their side. This is also an opportunity to heal the wounds created by the oppression of women since history. Parties must be sensitive and prudent towards this.

This issue is also linked to the question of why we had to adopt the proportional system. It is clear that the direct election parties do not field many women candidates. This time too, the number of women candidates fielded by the parties was 10.23 percent. On the contrary, the number of independent women candidates was 13.47 percent. The low number of women candidates in the direct election means that the chances of winning are low.

In the parliaments of 2048, 2051 and 2056, it was seen that the chances of women and oppressed communities becoming candidates and winning were low, which is why the proportional system had to be adopted. The aim of this system is to ensure minimum representation from women, indigenous peoples, Tharu, Dalit, Madhesi, Muslims, backward areas, etc. in the parliament.

The more representation from these communities, the more the objective of building a more inclusive society is fulfilled. The more inclusive the organs of the state become, the more equal participation in the decision-making process increases. Ultimately, the sense of belonging to the state increases among all the related communities. This is the way to strengthen the state. Therefore, when parties finalize the names of the MPs to be elected from the closed list, they should understand the essence and purpose of the proportional election system.

It is being done to elect more women through the proportional representation system. In the coming days, parties should be liberal in their parliamentary and state roles. In the parliament, each party will elect its leader, deputy leader, and whip. They will elect the chairpersons of various parliamentary committees. At that time, priority should be given to women MPs. Women MPs should also be given priority when it comes to introducing issues in the parliament on behalf of the party.