Two former Speakers, who are also active politicians of the country’s two biggest electoral forces, filed their nominations on Saturday for the March 9 presidential election.

With the two previous Presidents courting controversy for trying to exercise ‘extra-constitutional’ powers, what the country really needs is a President who is broadly accepted, who can play a neutral role, and who can act as a true guardian of the constitution.

“People will compare the new President with the two previous occupants of Sheetal Niwas who often courted controversies,” said Daman Nath Dhungana, a former Speaker. “As they could not honour public expectations, people now expect a non-partisan figure.”

But both the candidates are active politicians: Paudel, a senior Congress leader, has served as the party’s acting President while Nembang is currently the UML vice-chair.

Supported by eight of the 12 parties represented in Parliament, Paudel seems to win the polls easily but Nembang also looks hopeful about his election. In Paudel’s corner are the Congress, the CPN (Unified Socialist), the CPN (Maoist Centre), the Nagarik Unmukti Party, the Janamat Party, the Janata Samajbadi Party, the Loktantrik Samajbadi Party, and the Rastriya Janamorcha.

From the UML, party’s vice-chair and chairman of both the Constituent Assemblies Subas Chandra Nembang has filed his candidacy.

Though Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal on Saturday claimed the eight-party coalition’s candidate, Paudel, won’t act against the spirit of the constitution, experts doubt it. Whether it is Paudel or Nembang who is finally elected, each being an active politician, he could look to work in the favour of his former party once elected.

Political analysts say the two former Speakers had maintained neutrality as heads of the legislature. Yet that does not mean they will continue to be neutral while in the President’s Office.

According to Lokraj Baral, a political analyst, whether the new President can play a neutral role depends both on them as individuals as well as the political parties that elected them.

“In India, there have been non-political figures like Abdul Kalam who have been elected the President as well as politicians like Pranab Mukherjee—and each of them did an excellent job as President,” Baral told the Post.

“While the occupants of the high office should be mindful of their strictly-neutral status, the political parties that back them must also not put undue pressure on the President. That is how strong institutional norms will develop over time.”

Nembang is a politician known for his diplomatic skills, which he amply demonstrated in managing the House and the Constituent Assemblies. Though he was not the first choice of party chair Oli, the party’s Secretariat on Saturday morning decided to field him against Paudel.

According to some UML leaders, Oli had been in favour of fielding his loyals like Dormani Poudel and Guru Baral for the top post.

Both presidential candidates have been active in Nepali politics for decades. The two have served as lawmakers for most of the time since the 1990 democratic change.

As the Speaker is also the position that requires neutrality, there is a provision that the Speaker, once elected, resigns from their party duties. There is the same provision with respect to the head of the state.

“The parties had realised the need for a non-political candidate for the new President, but they unfortunately could not stick to their belief,” Dhungana told the Post.

According to him, to quell public disenchantment with the political forces and the government, parties should have fielded some eminent figures, which in turn could have helped restore public trust.

Names of former chief justice Kalyan Shrestha and renowned eye surgeon Sanduk Ruit, among others, had also been discussed as possible neutral candidates for the head of state.

“But the political parties could only agree on politicians,” Dhungana said. “As both presidential candidates have been active politicians, people who were expecting non-partisan eminent personalities to be elected will obviously be disappointed and see ulterior motives.”

Paudel, 78, who started his political career as a student leader at 14, could neither become the party President nor clinch the country’s top executive position in repeated attempts. He contested election against Sher Bahadur Deuba to become party president in 2016 and later he also challenged Deuba in the parliamentary party leader. But Deuba defeated him both times.

In 2011, as Congress’ parliamentary party leader, Paudel contested the prime ministerial election in the House. But he could not secure a majority even after 16 rounds of voting. In the 17th round, it was not him but UML’s Jhala Nath Khanal who secured the parliamentary majority to become prime minister.

Since the restoration of democracy in 1990, he has been elected as a member of Parliament six times (except in the 2017 polls) from Tanahun. He was elected Speaker after the 1994 midterm polls.

He became deputy prime minister and home minister, in addition to occupying other Cabinet portfolios like Local Development, Information and Communication and Peace and Reconstruction.

UML candidate Nembang, 70, joined politics while practising law. He was elected general secretary of the Nepal Bar Association in 1987.

He was elected member of the National Assembly in 1991 and in 1994, appointed the minister for law in the first UML-led government. In Paudel’s vein, Nembang has also been continuously winning polls from Ilam since 1999.

He became Speaker of the revived House of Representatives in 2006. A year later, he again became Speaker in the interim legislature. Nembang occupied the Speaker’s position four times in total, including twice as the CA chairman.