MP Kabindra BurlaKoti Proposes Lowering Voting Age to 16, Expanding Voting Rights

Kathmandu. Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) MP Kabindra BurlaKoti has proposed that youth aged 16 should be given the right to vote and arrangements should be made for them to vote based on citizenship or national identity card. Speaking in the discussion on the work plan of proposed Chief Election Commissioner Man Bahadur Karki in the parliamentary hearing committee, he pointed out the need for a radical change in the election system. MP BurlaKoti said that the situation where citizens are deprived of voting because their names are not in the voter list even after having citizenship and national identity card should be ended. 'After having citizenship and national identity card, saying there is no name in the voter list is meaningless,' he said. 'What plan do you have to arrange for direct voting based on these identity cards?' He expressed the view that the voting age limit should be reduced and urged the proposed Chief Commissioner to take initiative for legal amendment to include youth aged 16 in the voting process. BurlaKoti raised serious questions about the Election Commission's partisanship in enforcing the election code of conduct. He said, 'During candidacy and campaigning, the commission seems to ignore whatever the big powers do, but strictly enforces rules on smaller parties. What will you do to ensure equal treatment for everyone after you take office?' His argument was that the Election Commission should not pressure parties to merge. 'If political parties merge on their own, that is their happiness, but the commission should not pressure or make it mandatory,' he said. Mentioning that voters face problems due to public transport not being allowed to run on election day, he presented an alternative. BurlaKoti suggested that the government should arrange free transport on election day or facilitate local transport by not allowing travel from one municipality to another. He inquired about the Election Commission's stance on giving voting rights to Nepalis living abroad. Stating that there is no concrete plan to encourage voters to participate in elections so far, he suggested finding new mechanisms. He demanded a concrete work plan to make provincial and local level elections less challenging and more organized. He emphasized the need to develop a mechanism to directly involve the community in the election process.