Arithmetic of apathy

The right to vote should not be a privilege for those with geographical or financial convenience.

With two days to go for the March 5 snap polls, democracy is knocking on the door of Nepalis. But not everyone is answering. The festive veneer of democratic exercise in Nepal is increasingly being overshadowed by a chilling reality: The systematic, albeit perhaps unintentional, disenfranchisement of a significant portion of our citizenry. While the Election Commission touts a registered voter base of over 18.9 million, historical trends and contemporary grievances suggest that a staggering 35 percent of these individuals may remain silent on election day. This is a scathing indictment of a system that has allowed the cost of democracy to become a literal, financial barrier that the common citizen can no longer afford to scale.