CHITWAN, Nov 18/More than 80 percent of the Chepangs residing in Chitwan district will not be able to cast their votes in the November 19 Constitutional Assembly (CA) polls as they have not been registered on the electoral rolls. Although around 40,000 Chepangs live in the district, only 8,000 of them have been registered on the electoral rolls.
Dalab Bahadur Praja, a leader of the Chepang community of Shiddi VDC, said they would not have been deprived of their voting rights had the authorities taken serious initiatives to educate them about the polls. “While canvassing for the polls, leaders of various political parties visited every household. But they never asked the Chepangs to register their names on the voter list,” said Praja. “Had the Chepangs been educated about the importance of polls, they would certainly have made a difference in the election result,” he added.
Though a majority of Chepangs now have taken up agriculture, their produce lasts only for six months and they depend on yams and other edible roots for the rest of the year. According to the Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS), Chitwan alone is home to 32,000 Chepangs. However, Praja claimed that their actual population is 40,000.
The Chepangs have settled in Shiddi, Kaule, Korak, Lothar, Kabilash, Chandibhanjyang, Shaktikhor and Dorchowk VDCs of the district. Despite being deprived of voting rights, Dil Bahadur Praja said that they living standards would improve after the second Constituent Assembly (CA) polls. “We hope the leaders will seriously work to improve our lives,” said Praja.