FSU elections
The chaos surrounding the Free Student Union elections in many ways epitomizes what is wrong with the broader Nepali politics. Campuses around the country have been vandalized, with competing student unions clashing for supremacy, in this race to the
bottom. If a student union feels that it cannot win in a fair contest, it resorts to vandalism, and even physical violence against its main competitors. Due to these repeated bouts of hooliganism and with the student unions serving as no more than proxies for political parties they represent, many Nepalis are increasingly skeptical of the relevance of
student politics. The electoral competition is seldom based on specific agenda; it is rather a straight-forward battle for control of resources that will be spent on the upkeep of these public campuses. Reportedly, a student union affiliated to a major party like Nepali Congress or CPN-UML typically spends around Rs 50 million rupees to win FSU election in a campus. This money is spent on hiring hoodlums to beat up opposing candidates (should the situation demand) or in trying to ‘buy’ admissions for students in the campus who don’t make it through on official entrance exams; these ‘bought’ students are then expected to vote for those who helped them get admitted.
This is not how elections of any kind are fought in a democracy. This is a worrying trend also because it is these student leaders—who will have won campus elections not based on their vision for the campus or on specific agenda but on pure money and muscle power—who will tomorrow vie to become MPs and ministers and prime ministers. They will have learned from their student politics is that you do anything and everything to win elections, even if this means setting the institution you represent on fire, as some student unions have done this time around. No wonder there is now such a big rumpus surrounding the local election slated for May 14. Just like the students affiliated to their student unions, the grown-up cadres of different political parties are resorting to violence to assert their authority. As of this writing, reports are trickling in of clashes between the cadres of CPN-UML and Madheshi Morcha in Gaur of Rautahat district and Janakpur of Dhanusha
district. UML chief KP Oli has duly instructed his cadres to ‘retaliate’ against any use of force against them.
These clashes will only intensify as the proponents and the opponents of local election come face to face. But if the past is any guide there could be many incidents of violence even (or especially) among those campaigning for local election. It will be hard for politicians to let go of the habits cultivated in their youth. The only way things will improve is if the major parties stop using student unions as proxies for fund collection and strictly limit their role to improving the quality of infrastructure and education at campuses, which is why student unions were envisioned to start with. And it is up to the Election Commission to keep track of the funding of the political parties and
either fine or suspend the registration of the parties that violate its code of conduct.
Without such strict measures, our public institutions of higher learning, thoroughly hollowed by dirty student politics, will continue to produce hoards of educated unemployed.
Ensure election integrity
