The Election studies are important for they help understanding the political dynamics of a country, the level and extent of popular participation and the political behaviour of the masses. In fact, the general elections are an occasion when a political system is thrown open to so many challenges and opportunities. Therefore, it is possible to understand the nerve of politics of a country with the help of analysis of its electoral process and the voting behaviour.
The 1991 General Elections of Nepal have special significance, as it was after a long gap of 32 years that the democracy was on its way to Nepal, and also that the general elections were held after abandoning the Panchayat system through a democratic movement, by the political parties which had not been allowed to function under the Panchayat regime. That the direct rule of the monarchy eclipsed and it had acquired a constitutional status itself was an important development. Yet, there were speculations and doubts about the political motives and sincerity of the traditional elite.
This study was undertaken with an objective to understand the electoral process and voting trends in Nepal. Our endeavour however is confined to the study of perception, participation and performance of the Nepali Congress. We have selected the Nepali Congress Party for the purpose of our study because it has been the largest party of the Kingdom and has played a significant role in the political development of the country and that the party has an umbrella character representing most of the sections and regions of the society.
This study is based primarily on the data available in India and Nepal. In the persuance of this study I was benefited by a number of scholars and I conceive it my humble duty to express a word of gratitude to them.
I have no words to express my sincere gratitude to Professor Ramakant who has always been a source of inspiration behind my academic pursuits and from whom I have learned to work hard. I have been benefited from the ideas and suggestions of my colleagues in the South Asia Studies Centre. 1 express sincere thanks to them.
I am also grateful to Nepalese scholars who had been to Nepal on the eve of general elections, and with whom I met in Jaipur and New Delhi and had a series of discussions. I would like to specifically mention Late Durga Prasad Sharma with whom not only I had several rounds of discussions but who also provided valuable documents on the general elections to me. It is so unfortunate that he passed away in Jaipur at a time when he was about to submit his Ph.D. thesis. I am also thankful to B. P. Upadhyaya and R. L. Shrestha.
The Royal Nepalese Embassy in New Delhi extended full co-operation to me in procuring data on the general elections. I would like to express my special thanks to Dinesh Bhattarai who took personal interest in my work.
I also extend my thanks to the staff members of South Asia Studies Centre Library, Jaipur, Sapru House Library, JNU Library and Institute of Defence Studies and Analysis Library, New Delhi for their kind co-operation and help.
Nepal, a small but strategically important country in the Himalayas, has experimented various types of political systems during the last three hundred years of its existence. In 1769 King Prithvi Narayan Shah extended his rule from a small principality of Gorkha to constitute the Kingdom of Nepal through a process of annexation and assimilation of various principalities in and around the Kathmandu valley. Since then the people of Nepal have evidenced the monarchic rule of the Shah dynasty, family autocracy of the Ranas, experiment in democracy, the Panchayat system and finally abandoning the Panchayat system through a nation-wide democratic movement. During these years the Kingdom has gradually moved on its own way from a purely traditional socio-economic structure to a modernising social and economic system. Yet, the rulers of Nepal, except when the democratic forces came into power for a brief period, have always been concerned about the preservation and perpetuation of their own authority. The ruling elite always tried to mould socio-economic fabric of the society and the developmental process in a way which would serve their interest of self-perpetuation although the parameters and the strategies of this perpetuation changed from time to time.
The Shah rulers, after the formation of the Kingdom of Nepal, established a political system which was despotic in character. The King hold supreme civil and military authority of the state. The King proclaimed himself as the incarnation of Lord Vishnu, and thus, acquired a religious sanctity and highest prestige in the society. The society was shaped in accordance with the Hindu Chatur Varna system. Kshatriyas were appointed Ministers and Bhardars and they were sanctioned jagirs and Birta land as a reward for their services rendered to the King. As a result of this kind of state protectionism, a feudal oligarchy gradually took roots and acquired a status only next to the monarch in matters of powers and privileges. The emergence of nobility became a fundamental character of the polity. The nobles often came in conflict with each other in their quest for supremacy among the coteries of the King. This led to complications and tensions in the Nepalese political life. The weakening of the royalty and the question of regency in the later period further added to these complications. The royal court became a centre of political competition between nobles, intrigues and conspiracies. Amid such circumstances Jang Bahadur, a member of one of the noble families entrenched himself to power in 1846 through a ghastly massacre and established the rule of the Ranas.
The Rana Political System was no way different from the Shah rule, except that the monarch became captive in the palace and the supreme political authority was enjoyed by the Rana Prime Minister. Jang Bahadur Rana founded a stable political system in Nepal which continued for a considerable time. However, the Rana political system was highly centralised and despotic in nature. The old nobles were replaced by the members of the Rana family. The Ranas virtually established a family autocracy in Nepal. The administration was absolutist in nature inserting master-servant relationship between the ruler and the masses. The politics that prevailed under the Ranas was, at best, court politics in which political spoils depended on loyalty to the Rana rulers. Those who were found disloyal to the authority were removed from power. Intrigues and conspiracies were common to the court of Ranas as well.
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