INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
KATHMANDU, MAY 13Despite the weather forecast, a clear, sunny morning greeted the day of local elections in the
Nominations filed for local elections nationwide
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Voters could be seen walking to the nearest polling booths as early as 7:00 am
The polling booths were open from 7:00 am to 5:00 pm.
The entire voting session proceeded with ease at Ward-10 and 31 of
Kathmandu Metropolitan City.Most of the voters seemed to be experienced and rarely seemed to be confused or in the least bit intimidated
This ease extended to the management at both the polling booths - Swapna Vatika School (for Ward- 10) and Gyan Niketan School (Ward-31) were
well ordered.The majority of voters were middle-aged people.However, there were quite a number of the elderly, the sick, and the very young
There were even young mothers, who brought their toddlers to the polling booths.One such voter, who wished to remain anonymous, mentioned
how they had been voting for the past four elections
"I do feel frustrated when I sometimes think about how my vote is not making a difference," the voter said, and added, "But this time there
are candidates that I think will work towards the community's development and I wanted to come vote for them."Fifty-five-year-old Dhurba
Kumar Shrestha added the importance of voting despite the frustrations and the disappointment he felt towards the political scenario of the
"I have been voting since I was 18, so it has been many years
I haveseen many changes throughout this journey, in both the candidates' manifestos and the entire voting process
I have also felt discouraged many times, like so many other citizens of the country," he said."But voting is a part of our democracy
If we don't exercise our right to vote for our leaders, we have no need for democracy."Another anonymous voter expressed his discontent:
"What does it matter if I vote or not.One vote cannot make a change, why should people be bothered to vote in spite of their maladies if
there is not to be a change?"But like Shrestha there were many others who came to vote, despite their frustrations, in hopes of a better
result and a better future
"We are like the setting sun, our lives are almost already over,"Shrestha added
"It is necessary that we vote for the right people
Our votes will impact the future generations."A version of this article appears in the print on May 14, 2022, of The Himalayan Times.
This article first appeared/also appeared in https://thehimalayantimes.com