Communities that have been able to make it to parliament without reservation

South Asia Check / March 29, 2018

The issues of inclusion and affirmative action have dominated the public discourse in Nepal in recent days. In order to help make this discourse more fact-based, we are presenting statistics on the representation of several communities in major elected bodies of the country through the first-past-the-post (FPTP) elections.

We have presented this statistics to show which communities of Nepal have been able to send their representatives to parliament in proportion to their population, even without the aid of proportional representation (PR) electoral system.

Source: Politics of Representation in Nepal, Madhes Foundation 2015

Source: Politics of Representation in Nepal, Madhes Foundation 2015

During the Panchayat period, Khas-Arya caste group (chiefly Brahmin and Chhetri) was in the dominating position in the National Panchayat [national parliament]. This group is enjoying the same position in the newly-formed parliament also. Its representation in the current parliament under the FPTP electoral system is 1.5 times higher than the proportion of its population.

Source: Election Commission, Nepal

Source: Election Commission Nepal

After the restoration of democracy in 1990, the representation of Madhesi communities in parliament has increased. The number of directly elected members from this community in the first Constituent Assembly was more than their proportion in the national population. This does not mean that all communities from Madhes are reaping the benefits equally from this increased representation. In the first Constituent Assembly, only 0.4 percent members elected under the FPTP electoral system were from the Madhesi Dalit community. Madhesi Dalits comprises 4.76 percent of the national population.

Source: Elections in Nepal, Himal Books, 2015

Source: Elections in Nepal, Himal Books, 2015

Dalits (of both hills and Madhesi) and Muslims are the two communities severely underrepresented in parliament through the direct elections. Therefore, these two communities should be the chief beneficiaries of proportional representation electoral system and reservation.

However, Newar, Gurung, Limbu, Rai, Thakali, Madhesi Brahmin, Kayastha (Madhesi), Rajput (Madhesi), Yadav and some other ethnic and caste groups have been represented proportionately or more than proportionately [with their percentage in population] in parliament through direct elections. For example, Yadav and Newar are 3.98 and 4.99 percent, respectively, of the total population, but their representation in the second Constituent Assembly through FPTP electoral system was 6.7 and 5.4 percent respectively.