They have fought legal battles, organised protests and held dialogues to snatch their legal rights from the very institutions where they are elected.
Amrita Anmol, Centre for Investigative Journalism-Nepal
For Shabnam Khatun, deputy mayor of Kapilvastu district’s Krishnanagar Municipality, the work of the municipality has become a tough nut to crack. She claimed that she did not get support from other representatives and the staff just because she is a woman. When she tried to utilise her rights as per the Local Government Operation Act 2074, she faced domination from the representatives and the staff. Although she is the co-ordinator of the municipality’s Project and Program Monitoring Committee, she is not informed even when payments are processed after completion of developmental work.
When she thought it was going out of hand, she asked the ‘reason’ from Chandu Ram Chaudhary, chief administrative officer in-charge at the municipality, on March 19, 2020. On that day, the municipality was opening a tender for aestheticising a pond and the construction of a road. Chaudhary told her that since the process had been fulfilled through e-bidding and publishing a notice in newspapers, it was “not necessary to inform her”. Chaudhary and Khatun had an altercation on this issue. Calling the altercation a physical assault, Chaudhary issued a press statement and stopped work of the municipality for a few days.
However, Khatun did not back out. She continued to use her rights as the deputy mayor. After the incident, the staff of the municipality have started to inform or ask her before initiating any work. “I was not allowed to use my legal rights just because I am a woman. They’ve started to listen to me after I started to speak and struggle. We have to snatch our rights if they are not willing to give it to us easily,” Khatun told CIJ-Nepal.
The law provides deputy chiefs of local levels with a host of responsibilities and executive rights. These include the right to monitor projects and programs, coordinate sub-committee for budget allocation, and oversee the judicial committee. However, the deputy chiefs continue to face hurdles while attempting to fulfil their duties. So the deputy chiefs, who are women, have started to speak up when it comes to using their legal rights.
On October 18, 2019, Kailali’s Ghodaghodi Municipality Ward-7 had organised a program to inaugurate its building. The building’s stone plaque mentioned that it was inaugurated by Mamata Prasad Chaudhary, the mayor. The plaque also mentioned the names of the ward chairperson and the members but not the name of Prem Kumari Thapa, the deputy mayor.
Thapa had asked the mayor and the chief administrative officer to mention her name on the plaque a day before the inauguration when she visited the building site for monitoring. But her request failed to receive a response. An angry Thapa then threw stones at the plaque, claiming that it was an insult to a woman. Her protest did not result in her name being mentioned on the plaque, but it highlighted how she had been singled out just for being a woman. “I was concerned not because my name did not appear on the plaque; rather, I was concerned because the position of the deputy mayor was devalued,” Thapa said. “I protested because the discrimination had crossed the limits as the mayor did as he wanted.”
Thapa said she had started to raise her voice after the judicial committee that she led had been made devoid of staff for two years, she had been kept away from the decision processes of the municipality, she was kept away from planning processes, and projects began to be passed without monitoring. “I’ve started to intervene in planning processes, monitoring, and judicial processes. This is because it is important to fight the bad practices and trends,” Thapa said. She added that people around her have become aware of the rights of the deputy mayor after she began to speak up.
Laxmi Devi Gupta Sav, deputy mayor of Kapilvastu Municipality, boycotted the city council meeting once she got to know that she had not been included in the budget allocation and project planning processes. The budget for the fiscal year 2019/20 had to be approved by the fifth city council meeting. But when Kiran Singh, the mayor, went ahead with the city council meeting, Laxmi Devi knocked at the court’s door.
On July 17, 2020, Laxmi Devi submitted a writ petition at the Butwal bench of Tulsipur High Court against mayor Singh, chief administrative officer Bimal Raj Acharya and the city council, asking for the council’s decisions to be rendered invalid as it had bypassed the deputy mayor. The court did not pass a judgement in her favour, but ordered that the deputy mayor should not be deprived of her rights. “The remains of patriarchy are visible in the way women deputy mayors are barred from fulfilling their duties,” Laxmi Devi said.
After the court’s order, the intervention on work related to project monitoring and justice has come down. Laxmi Devi said she had not been able to include the issues of women, children and marginalised communities in the budget because of her lack of access to project planning. “I have not stopped speaking. The culture of dominating women will go away one day,” she said.
Right after the local elections, Rupandehi District’s Lumbini Municipality decided to provide a vehicle to mayor Manmohan Chaudhary by spending Rs1 lakh a month. However, Janaki Devi, the deputy mayor, was deprived of this facility. She asked the local representatives and the staff to take her opinion during project planning and monitoring, but her requests were ignored. When she asked chief administrative officer Mohan Paudel about her rights, on April 13, 2019, Paudel told her that he would not do any work other than follow the decision of the city council and the mayor. Chaudhary then padlocked Paudel’s office for a week.
The deputy mayor was supported during the padlocking program by Ward-3 chairperson Akaramuddin Nau Musalman, Ward-7 chairperson Dhruba Yadav, and Ward-10 chairperson Ramjan Ansari. The padlocked was removed only after District Coordination Committee coordinator Ekraj Viswakarma mediated. “My protest was not only regarding the vehicle but also the issues of project planning, implementation and monitoring where I was bypassed. They began to listen to me only after I protested,” Chaudhary said.
Women deputy mayors have started to speak up as they face discrimination not only in enjoying their rights but also the facilities they receive as people’s representatives. For instance, Rupandehi district’s Marchbari Rural Municipality provided chairperson Keshav Nanda Baniya with a car while it provided deputy chairperson Sunita Devi Kalwar with a motorcycle. She protested the decision, but her protest went in vain. Kalwar then padlocked five ward offices. The padlock was opened after mediation from the District Coordination Committee, when she was assured a car. Although the car is yet to be provided to her, representatives and staff at the rural municipality have started to consult her regularly.
Ever since she was elected the deputy mayor of Dhanusha district’s Hamsapur Municipality, Renu Jha quarreled with mayor Ramgyan Mandal. She said the quarrel began after the mayor began to do the work that has been provided to the deputy mayor by the Local Government Operation Act. The judicial committee, which is coordinated by the deputy mayor, remains without staff members and budget. She and the mayor were not on talking terms for quite some time due to the quarrel.
When the municipality office was shifted without informing the deputy mayor on July 18. 2019, the two sides—the mayor’s followers and the deputy mayor’s followers—had a face-off. Six people were injured whereas Tapeshwar Mandal, a local, died in the incident. Renu submitted a writ petition at the Janakpur High Court on August 7, 2019. A September 14, 2019 order of the High Court ordered the office to be shifted to the old location. After the High Court order, Mandal shifted the municipal office to the old location.
“You have to speak up to get your rights. I could get the decision to shift the municipal office cancelled because I went to the court,” the deputy mayor said. She added that she still has to struggle to enjoy her legal rights to participate in project planning and implementation processes.
In September/October 2019, Gopal Rai Yadav, mayor of Rautahat district’s Fatuwa Bijayapur Municipality, shifted his secretariat to Ward-9. Deputy mayor Kanti Devi Mahato and other structures of the municipality remained in Ward-8. This became a bone of contention between the two elected representatives for a long time. When the deputy mayor asked the mayor to furnish details of the budget, the conflict widened. The deputy mayor asked for the city council meeting for the fiscal year 2018/19 to be halted, but the mayor went ahead with it anyway. The deputy mayor knocked on the doors of the Birgunj High Court against the mayor’s monopoly. The court ruled in the deputy mayor’s favour.
Kanti Devi said the ruling has highlighted the role of and rights of the deputy mayor. “The mayor apologised to me and shifted the office back to the old location. He also furnished the details of the budget, and the city council meeting was conducted with mutual consultation on March 24, 2019,” Kanti Devi said.
Several local levels consider officiating deputy mayors as claimants for the position of the mayor in the next elections. However, in many local levels, women deputy mayors do not receive the encouragement they deserve. Nepal Communist Party and federal lawmaker Radha Kumari Gyanwali said, “Women representatives must expand their legal, topical and practical knowledge first and then seek to snatch their rights if they do not get them easily.”
