As the March 5 ballot nears, news surrounding major political parties’ election agendas—or a lack thereof—has hogged the headlines. One after the other, parties have come out with their election manifesto. The major traditional parties possess well-established operational histories, but also suffer the ignominy of a series of false promises. The new ones are making tall promises. Confused voters find it hard to separate the wheat from the chaff, although this election cycle has proved that there has been a marked increase in voters’ ability to see it for what it is. Deep down, they would much prefer if politicians would stop selling pie-in-the-sky optimism and stay grounded in the reality of what is possible.

It is easy to set a lofty goal, but it is not so easy to convert goals into results. Nepali politicians routinely make absurd promises. This has particularly been the case since the onset of the multi-party democracy in 1990, and even more so since the abolition of the monarchy in 2008. Voters have been left with no choice. Out of frustration, quite a few have decided not to practice their franchise rights—period. Diehard loyalists simply vote for their party, regardless of who the candidate is. Others are forced to pick the lesser of two evils. Barring a few, all candidates—irrespective of party and creed—are essentially cut from the same cloth. During the election campaign, they all sell dreams that fail to materialise.

The practice of overpromising and underdelivering—or not delivering at all—has gone on for too long, simply because this goes unpunished. Voters seldom confront and demand an explanation from politicians who set unrealistic expectations. There are signs that this is changing in this election cycle. Social media is full of video clips showing awakened voters putting repeat candidates on the defensive. During one of KP Oli’s visits to Jhapa-5, which for long has been considered his bastion, he was visibly surprised to face questions about his unfulfilled promises. Oli, in the past, has famously talked about household gas distribution via pipelines, ships connecting Nepali rivers to the sea, and railways to China.

The need for a reform-minded visionary

Oli, a four-time prime minister between 2015 and 2025, and Chair of the CPN-UML since 2014, shows no remorse for having concocted starry-eyed projects; rather, he continues to act like he can do no wrong. The September 8-9 Gen Z uprising, during which scores of protesters demanding good governance and an end to rampant corruption met with lethal force by law enforcement, took place when he was leading the government. Jhapa-5 acts and feels different this time around—not only because the memories of September 8-9 are fresh on the minds of voters, but also because Balendra Shah, Kathmandu’s erstwhile mayor popularly known only as Balen, wants to stop Oli in his tracks.

Balen’s entry as a contestant has abruptly turned Jhapa-5 from Oli’s one-time stronghold to a battleground. It is a tussle between a 74-year-old veteran and a political newbie who will be 36 in April. Going by tea-stall talk, social media conversations and pure gut feeling, Balen has an edge over Oli, with the latter continuing to brag about his invincibility. But actions speak louder than words. Oli is having to work hard to earn back people’s trust—going door to door like never before. In past elections, he addressed rallies across the country, helping other UML candidates. Not this time. As a Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) senior leader and prime ministerial candidate, it is Balen who has been campaigning from east to west.

The UML is back to its old tricks. Populist promises are back. Realising that the Gen Z youths are heavily in favour of Balen and the RSP, the UML, if it forms government post-election, promises to hand out 10GB of free monthly data to those aged 18 to 28 for one year. Other freebies include Rs20,000 per child as a nutrition allowance for new mothers. These things cost money. As always, such manifestos are big on ambition and short on details about sources of funds. The UML also aims to grow the economy at an annual rate of 7-9 percent to hit Rs10 trillion in five years and Rs20 trillion within a decade. The irony is that its 2022 manifesto also dreamt of growth of 7-9 percent to reach Rs10 trillion economy.

The bane of development

In truth, the Nepali economy grew 4.6 percent to Rs6.1 trillion in the last fiscal year through mid-July 2025. We cannot single out the Oli-led UML for such hallucinatory projections. Other large parties are equally to blame. The Nepali Congress aims to achieve a growth rate of seven percent annually, with plans to create 1.5 million new jobs within five years. Speaking of which, the UML promises to create 500,000 new jobs every year, with a minimum monthly wage of Rs25,000, versus just under Rs20,000 currently. If wages go up by that much at once, the private sector, in a bid to maintain its margins, will justifiably raise prices, and consumers will bear the brunt of it all in the form of inflation.

In an economy like Nepal, which holds a lot of growth potential and which is scheduled to graduate to a developing nation status in November, high-single-digit growth rates are very well within reach if all the revenue leakage is plugged, and for that, corruption needs to end. This is the crux of the issue. People don’t need, and definitely do not have time, to go over manifestos running in hundreds of pages. They just want one genuine, from-the-heart commitment: A corruption-free society, starting from the top echelons of political parties. The old, leading parties have time and again failed at this. The new ones are yet to be genuinely tested, with a high probability of the RSP winning overwhelming support at the upcoming polls.

Once corruption is decreased, achieving the RSP vision of six percent annual growth is not demanding too much. Turning four in July, it also aims to double the per capita income from $1,500 to $3,000 within five to seven years. The UML, too, will be shooting for $3,000, with the caveat that it has been recurrently tested, with failing grades. The RSP is yet to be tested as the head of government. Consider Pushpa Kamal Dahal, a three-time prime minister between 2008 and 2024, who has moved from one constituency to another just to avoid defeat. Balen, in contrast, is risking his budding political career by taking on Oli in the latter’s home constituency. Oli’s defeat will have turned a new page for Nepalese politics.