DWAIPAYAN REGMI, TON NEPAL

Just like the conflict-filled space that India and Pakistan hold regarding Kashmir, Lipu Lekh has been a conflict-filled space between India and Nepal. While Nepal has been claiming the land to be theirs, India has not made any clarification on it, creating confusion on it. In the press release note, published on May 9. 2020 by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Nepal, they clearly expressed their point of view regarding how the land belonged to Nepal as per the Sugauli Treaty (1816) where all the territories of east of Mahakali River including Lipu Lekh, Kalapani and Limpiyadhura belonged to Nepal. So, it was not fair for the Government of India to carry out any activity inside the territory of Nepal.
This Himalayan border holds a bigger set of disputes because the historical record clearly shows how in 1865 when the British shifted the border near Kalapani for the watershed, that belonged to Nepal. Even during National Citizens Conference, it was claimed by the NGOs Federation their support to bringing back the land within Nepalese territory from their side. The issue further got strong when Nepalese census counting bodies attempted to count people residing in those areas to include them within the population of Nepal through satellite.
General Elections in Nepal have been planned for 20 November 2022 for the election of 275 members in the House of Representatives. There will be two ballots for an election where one will be electing 165 members through single members, and the other will be electing the remaining members 110 in total through nationwide constituency through party-list proportional representation. This election will be held through provincial elections for seven provincial sets of assemblies. There have been alliances formed among parties where the previous Prime Minister has an alliance with Madhesi parties, and the other alliance with the current Prime Minister where the alliance is made with Nepali Congress, CPN Maoists, and separated CPN UML. The alliance which will be made and what seems practical and possible here is regarding the possibility that a Congress-associated alliance will be in the victory position there, with a high range of supporters or followers. This alliance which has been recognized or identified here will be looking into the major aspect of dissatisfaction. There had been big leaders who were away from direct election participation too. Former Prime Minister, Dr. Baburam Bhattarai had to stay away from direct election here.
Meanwhile, there has been a large number of independent and young participants in this election. Popular journalist Ravi Lamichhane is in the battle. Other young participants include Ranju Darshana, Manushi Yami Bhattarai, etc. The impact of Balen Shah, who independently won Kathmandu’s mayor, and Harka Sampang who won Dharan’s mayor influenced a large number of participants to be encouraged for independent candidacy. They certainly created a big impact in the process here.
However, the big set of influencing factors about the election practice here seems to be lagging where there will be a certain distance placed regarding Lipu Lekh. This issue has been ignored on a larger scale. It was the former Prime minister who increased the entire area of Nepal and got a massive set of hype regarding the Lipu Lekh region too, but the agenda hereby in the election does not seem under a priority here anyway. With all the aspects that had to be under consideration, it was assumed that the concern of Lipu Lekh would be with top priority, but in the race of winning, what appeared here was that there was a massive difference noted. The leaders seem much more concerned about their greed, and the issue might be under the shadow – there lies a bigger proportion of fear here.
Upon the self-battle that they will be going through, there will be a bigger set of fear and threat through which any momentum would overcome. This topic must gain enough space too, but there are no such aspects which would be considered. Hence, with the bigger space and chances – only if everyone gets united and makes the issue applicable in international presence, Nepal would be in a strong position. But, staying under the umbrella of India, with all the blessings there, ignoring this issue at this crucial time can be noted as a skeptical influence too. It is yet to be seen, how the winning party will take the entire momentum later thereafter.