By Dinesh Wagle
Wagle Street Journal
It was a thrilling experience to vote after so many years. I came to this computer a few minutes ago after casting my vote in the historic elections of Constituent Assembly this morning. I had reached at the polling station in Gandhi Adarsha High School, a minute of walk from my home in Gothataar village of Kathmandu constituency 2, at 6:20 AM. That was 40 minutes ahead of the opening of the voting time at 7 AM. There were already about 50 people in the line! One guy came behind me with his identification card saying: I was eagerly waiting for the morning. My hand is itching. I want to vote! I will be voting after 16 years.
After standing in the queue for 40 minutes I went inside the polling station. There the lines got divided into three sections (six in total for males and females). As a result of this division I found myself standing in the third position! Cool!
Not only me but my octogenarian great grandfather was also queuing. I encountered my other family members who were entering into the polling station as I was exiting.
I found all people in the line very much excited about voting.
Many female voters were present at the polling stations. I sensed that many people wanted to vote early in the morning so that they could do other things in their homes during the day.
I plan to go to different parts of Kathmandu to see the voting process. As a matter of fact, as soon as posting this VOTE BLOG, I will be rushing towards Koteshwor and Tinkune and to the downtown Kathmandu.
If you are planning to vote, please don’t forget to carry your identification card. Plus, don’t get scared by the long queue. You have stood in line at theaters for tickets, haven’t you? This is far more important. Beyond comparison. Please go and do vote!
United We Blog 
Comments
29 responses to “NEPAL VOTES: YES, I ALSO VOTED!!!”
So early! That’s wonderful man. and Congratulations to you! You have done an extra ordinary service to this country and your fellow brethren by voting in this auspicious and great election. Let Nepal be republic peacefully.
The election is finally here. I am just hoping and praying that things go smoothly today. As a Nepali citizen, looking from the outside today, I feel helpless, but I have faith in my country and its people that we will be able to bring things back on track. I have faith that we will progress.
GOOD LUCK NEPAL!!!
I saw the front page of The New York Times this morning…the first time in a long long time… mentioning about Nepal election.
…Nepal will have the chance to do what few modern nations have done:refashion its entire goverment.
Now,go and do right thing….VOTE!
Oh!!!!!dats kwel………..after so long time…….
But I missed dat……..last time when election held, I am under age to cast vote………n this time when times come, I am out of counry……anyway best of luck for all voters, contender
happy vote casting…….
Its just three and half hours since voting started and I’m so eager to know the results already. I’m crossing my fingers like a child and praying for better future of Nepal!!!
28th Chaitra 2064
Ek Jug Ma Ek Din
I along with so many writers could be forgiven for shamelessly borrowing the above line from the late poet Gopal Prasad Rimal’s work for there can be no other line that depicts the situation we stand in currently, so remarkably. 28th of Chaitra, 2064 will always live in our memory and in the history books we hope, for ages. The cliché we stand on the verge of history has never sounded so truthful, so un-cliché like, because that is where we stand today, on the brink of history. Whatever we do from hereon, history will always remember us, with a lot of admiration we hope, or sadly with a tint of disgust. As Nepal goes to polls today to draw up a new constitution, time has come for us to choose a path and it’s not your average path, the one that leads to your house, it’s a path that as a country Nepal takes. It’s a path that decides what sort of Nepal our children grow up in or if it remains Nepal at all.
And that was what I had in my mind as I headed to a polling booth early in the morning today. As I cast my vote, there was a clear sense within me that said I was participating in a momentous process of rewriting my country’s future course. And in the same time I was also fully aware that all I had done was add a drop to an ocean. In so many ways, as far as I was concerned, I was fighting a losing battle. While I was afraid that my minuscule voting power might have already been neutralized by a few imported goons or by the omnipresent YCL thugs by the time my ballot paper reached the bottom of the box, more importantly I was worried for there was no genuine political force that spoke my language. And worryingly still, like everyone else, I feel my ideology is in the majority. I’m, as far as I believe, a member of the always-used-and-never-seen silent majority.
So what is that the majority believes in (tongue firmly in cheek):
1. One, undivided Nepal at all cost
2. Republic, federal republic or a constitutional monarchy?
a. Whatever the Nepalese people decide through a referendum or through a clear consensus
b. In case of federal republic, federal states on the lines of geography alone. Nepal has so many ethnic groups and they among themselves have nothing in common. If the nation is restructured on the lines of ethnicity (or language; it’s the same in Nepal’s case) we will simply disintegrate.
3. Respect for all ethnic languages, but the supremacy of Nepali language as the one and only official language be respected
4. Stop rubbishing our glorious past and start looking towards the future. Prithvi Narayan Shah was and is the father of the nation and no one can take that away from him. Every idea, ideology has its period. When Prithvi Narayan Shah ruled this nation, it was the age of the kings. If you think monarchy is a thing of the past, well we’re talking about the past.
5. Rule of law be upheld. No talks and compromises with thugs and thieves that want our Terai to be next Bihar. If you burn the national flag, you deserve to be hanged.
6. State and religion be strictly separated.
May this step be the beginning of peace and progressive NEPAL..
Well, I’ve also voted. Its good to see the people going to vote at the polling station.
Hope the best person wins.
gaurav, u mean to say no compromise wid terai leaders. it means u only love yr one part of yr country but not the others. u cant understand their pain, u dont respect their rights . that is why they r fighting 4 their rights. they want to build their seperate state just because u dont want to live together wid them.. if u cant walk wid them then why u dont disturbe them, let them be free.
CONGRAT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Wish this election will bring lasting peace.
Lets hope all party accept the verdict without any pretext
Congrats to all!!!
Look Mr Arun,
There can be no excuse for murdering civilians and frightening them away simply because they are so called Pahadiyas. Nepal belongs to everybody. Who has given these thugs the right to say that Madhesh belongs to them? And by the way what makes a person a madhesi? A person who has stayed in Madhes for 70 years is not considered a madhesi and while a person who’s come from India one year earlier is a true madhesi. Well I accept that you people have faced discriminations in the past, I presume you’re the so called madhesi, but things have changed a lot in the recent times. Join the Nepalese mainstream damnit, discard regional politics. People who don’t believe in Nepal don’t have a place here.
Guys, I think it is good to stop all pahadi madhesi issue now. As we agreed to solve all outstanding issues by CA Election, the same will decide about Federal policy of State.
amusing people here getting excited and wishing for a new better nepal – are you idiots – weve seen 2 years of the new nepal its just more of the same.
Congratulations and welcome!
It’s nice and refreshing to see Democracy making some progress these days.
Of course this is only a beginning. Patience & responsibility will be two of many keys for a free and peaceful Nepal.
All the best.
gaurav, first i would like to say that madhesh does not belong to pahadiya, it is the madhesi motherland. if you people have problem wid us then get out from madhesh. dont disturbe us, but i give u one chance, for that u all should respect our motherland. if u like people will make discrimination between madhesi n pahadi then third person will obviously make benefit from this.see, no one like violence. it is u like people who have started n if still it is not ended then there r many people, countries, parties who will surely make benefit from this .u mean to say those who have come to nepal just 70 years ago can not be considered as nepali. but what abt the person who have come before 500 yearsor 5000 years ago? . should we consider them as nepali? if so all the mongolian has come frm single place so called as china. so i can also say that u all r chinese. u blady chinese!!!!!
If madesh doesn’t belong to we Nepali people, does this country belong to PN Shah?
Mr Arun there is no such thing as a “madeshi motherland”. There is only “nepali motherland”. Those madeshies who do not wish to be a Nepali can go to where they came from. And what about the 40 lakh citizenship distributed to Indians by the 7 party???
Mr arun.. u blady foolish person.. generalizing on the false assumption that all mongolians are chinese.. What happened to the country called Mongolia>>???
I have never discriminated against any Nepali.. Dalit, Janajati, Madeshi, Bhote, Jumli, Humli… I am just against the disintegration on my motherland. Let my country be the smallest federal country of the world. Its high time that we decentralize the state power. But I as a proud Nepali will not tolerate the federal states in the basis of caste.
Bastard Arun!
Who has given you the rights to say Terai belongs to only you people. It belongs to Nepal and each and every Nepali. If you consider yourself a Nepali, you deserve to stay there otherwise get the hell out of our country.
What do you know Mr, most of Terai was all but Malaria infested jungle before the turn of last century. It has become what it is today because people have migrated from both the north and the south. Now what gives you people more rights than us, the northerners over the land? Stop looking towards India for instructions and believe in Nepal. And thats only a moderate in me speaking.
By the way, you know what I really believe, people like you need to be hanged publicly. And days like that are not that far away.
And by the way Mr. Arun, 5000 years my foot! I guarantee that you people have not lived in Terai for 50 years
A day hasn’t passed since the historic election of Nepal, and we the Nepalese already started fighting over the division of Nepal. Great. I’m proud of being a Nepali. Aru kura garna aaye pani na aaye pani, jhagda garna ra aru ko haath khutta bhachna ta ramrai sanga aaunchha hai hami lai. okay, let’s do one thing. Pahade haru madhesi lai “hang” garna thalun, ani madhesi haru pahade lai madhesh bata bhagaun. Ani, himalaya chetra chahin tibet lai diun, madhesh ta india le liyi halchha, ani banki bachyo pahad, tyaslai chahin naya naamakaran garun. Nepal bhanne naam nai kina rakhnu paryo ra?
The lines written earlier were outcome of a moment’s frustration after reading all the above posts. I believe in Nepal, one single Nepal. Isn’t our country already too small to break? And a question to those who are fighting in the name of pahade and madheshi, what should we call ourselves one of whose parent is from madhesh and one is from pahad? And where do those people settle who were born in pahad but who grew up in terai or vice versa? It’s not so easy to disintegrate Nepal and Nepalese people.
“amusing people here getting excited and wishing for a new better nepal – are you idiots – weve seen 2 years of the new nepal its just more of the same.”
Whoever wrote this, all I want to say is that learn to be optimistic and you will see a better tomorrow. Believe in miracle and miracle will really happen. And as Bach wrote, “Argue for your limitations, and sure enough, they are yours”.
I was voting for the first time and it was a total exciting experience
practice your lal salam – the maoists are leading in 40% of countings. What a trap you morons fell into. Well too late. Stage 1 – successful, Stage 2- on its way to success and then stage 3 – say bye bye to your democracy – expect your next vote after 50 years (if your still around).
u bastard gaurav, all are not like u , u call yourself as nepalese! same on you. you dont know to respect others locality people, culture, language,. u can see the comments above, they discard yr thoughts, u blady bhaatae. u r not the gaurav 4 the country but the samless ill patient. u have got the schizophrenia, go n treat first. if u say terai were all malaria infested jungle so what abt u like pahade?. were u all born from the rocks n stone? u lack many knowledge. u have dementia. lalitpur hospital is best place for u like stupid mania.
long live revolution! long live communism! goto hell haha!
Well, it was also my pleasure to cast my vote for the first time too. But, to tell you the truth I did not feel good or great or even I didn’t feel bad. I was just satisfied that I voted my vote.
That’s it. Let us hope there will be some strong constitution being written for Nepal.
well the discussions up above are what democracy is all about. As long and people dont talk about dividing the country all issues are welcome. The discussions above I can see is between two well educated peoples. Imagine how the situation would be if the discussions were between two uneducated and brainwashed people. Best of Luck to Everyone of us. The leaders and the winners and all of us NEPALESE need it. Just stop for a moment and reflect upon what your demands are doing to the country and if you think it is doing good, good, if not then bad.
i don’t accept the election result! This is unfair.
sometime democracy fails and this is the example of it. it does not mean that i don’t believe in democracy.
We shall overcome terrorism!
Unfortunetly i am the citizen of a terrorist nation now. what the fuck is going on with nepalese people. they supported terrorism
Dear readers,
Like Bibas says sometime democracy will be taken over by wolves. We need to understant if Maoist’s YCL is going to push us on the edge , the country will be palestine, deninitely.
So Terroist leader ( so called president) prachanda u have some suggestions to make nepal as a great country:
1) Banned all YCL and snatches their weapons. which they carry to loot all innocent nepalies.
2) Don’t be like previous successor’s.
3) No natabaad and kripabaad.
4) No place for intruders and seperatist.
5)Intrigrate all pahadiya and terai people in such a way that all people take this as a motherland, Nepal.
6) ethnic leaders need to aware of punishment.
There are more but u understant what all nepali people want from you at this critical time.
You are actually showing bravery , need to show us that we can change nepal in to New Nepal.
thanks