No option to timely polls

Elections represent the only credible way out of the current political transition and state of uncertainty.

Former lawmakers of the Nepali Congress and the CPN-UML, the first and second biggest parties in the dissolved House of Representatives, are lobbying for the House restoration. In this connection, they have also lodged multiple petitions at the Supreme Court. But then the Congress has formally declared that it will take part in the March 5 elections. Even the UML, despite the outward posturing of its chair KP Sharma Oli, is busy preparing for the polls. Separately, a group of leading Gen Z activists are planning to take to the street in order to press the interim government to take action against those involved in suppressing the September Gen Z movement. They say they will otherwise obstruct the electoral process. Because of all these reasons, there continues to be doubt over the feasibility of timely elections. For the established parties and their aging leaders, the fear might be that they could be sidelined if they immediately go into elections. On the other hand, for the Gen Z activists, they might both be trying to stake a claim in the country’s political process and to establish themselves as credible electoral actors. Of course, they also fear that if those who suppressed the September protests are not brought to book now, they might never be punished for their grave crimes.