Written by: Rushina Tamang - 26008, Grade IX
Posted on: 23 May, 2022
As the local level election season was going on. Most parties such as Surya or Congress had already started their social work acts, their street petitions for whom to vote for. They did this every time and we usually ended up voting for one of those parties. For us citizens, we look at the size and strength of these parties and the things that the leader says that they’ll do for the state in order to decide which party we’ll vote for.
Most adults or older people vote for these parties as they have known about their existence for a long time. They don’t look at what they have done for the state or what developments they have or have not made. They go with the party that they have the closest relationship with. But the vote should be determined on which candidate would actually develop our state and bring positive changes to it. But most adults think that just because the candidate shook their hands among all the other citizens in the state, they should vote for them. They feel proud that they shook that candidate’s hand. Most parties just have to shake citizens' hands or wave to them, or feed them food and alcohol with a smile to get votes.
Then comes the speech, the speech that is supposed to attract citizens and give them a look through the future, which is a total lie. They spread so many lies about making roads better, developing schools and their schooling system, or bringing daily electricity. But once they get elected, they don't fulfill their promises.
But that isn’t always the case. They might actually end up doing the things that they had promised to do. They might actually be good leaders. But this isn’t the situation in Nepal’s voting system most of the time.
With the Kathmandu Mayor election going on, parties such as Surya or Congress or Halo have already started roaming the streets in Kathmandu in groups supporting their leader to be the mayor. But this time a unique candidate has participated in the election. Balen Shah who is a Nepali rapper has stood up as an individual with no party to be the mayor of Kathmandu. As said, he has no party and he is an individual person, so it will be harder for him to get votes. He has pretty good support from his fans that he gained from his rapper career. But is he a candidate for Mayor?
Like most rappers who were in the start of the 2000s, he started his career with racism and sexism. But he also cannot be blamed because most rappers in that era were involved in racism and sexism. But the past cannot be erased. What can be done is to cover the mistakes with apologies.
Balen has been doing a lot of charity work and has been engaging himself in a lot of social events. He has been seen doing good work. It’s not like he was engaged in any bad work, to begin with.
Looking at the characteristics he has to be a mayor, he is well-educated as he has studied engineering meaning he knows about different problems in the state and is well-aware of how to solve them, he is a younger candidate, and he has support from his fans. From what he said, he looks like he has good intentions.
Most youngsters think that voting for Balen is the best option as he is a younger candidate who is educated about social problems and their solutions. And the Balen will bring changes to Kathmandu and will be a great leader or mayor. Some think that a young candidate is not eligible to be a mayor. Maybe he doesn’t have much experience in the field. But neither do the other older candidates. Most of the time, they are not even educated about social problems. And the elder citizens of Kathmandu think it’s better to vote for older candidates as it has become the social norm. They are used to voting for one of these candidates.
But the youngsters of Kathmandu wanting a change in the election system want to try something new for once and want to give a chance to younger candidates such as Balen Shah. So, right now, this election is mainly between youngsters and adults. But is Balen Shah really a good candidate to become the mayor? I guess our votes will decide that. And this time I think we should really choose someone who actually cares. I’m not saying the other candidates are bad nor am I saying that Balen Shah will bring extraordinary changes to Kathmandu. But this time we really need to change the way we make decisions on who to vote for. Not for someone who we said hi to or shook hands with but with someone who really has good intentions for better changes.
