KATHMANDU, Nov. 13 (Xinhua) -- With less than a week to go for the scheduled Nov. 19 election for Constituent Assembly (CA), the number of Nepal's businessmen and corporate tycoons switching off their mobile phones, changing their contact numbers or escaping communication has tremendously increased.
While Nepal's political parties are going through tough schedules to woo their voters, this season has also been a real ordeal for this poor Himalayan country's business fraternity.
"I switched on my mobile phone today for just a few hours," one of the former presidents of Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FNCCI) -- Nepal's apex business body -- told Xinhua.
He, however, is not the only one putting his phone off for the last month to avoid frequent requests for donations from political parties and hosts of candidates contesting for the CA polls.
The experience of the FNCCI former president gives a quick picture of what the rest of the business community in Nepal are going through on the eve of the election, when political parties are lavishly spending for their election campaigns and even buying their votes.
Donation collection and extortion drives launched by political parties are not a new phenomenon in Nepal, where most of the big and small parties record bulky revenue every year even though they have no source of income on their own.
But this time, parties have resorted to a different approach.
"Unlike during the last CA election, the calls for donation this time are relatively humble," an executive committee member of Confederation of Nepalese Industries (CNI) seeking anonymity told Xinhua.
"Then, the parties used to launch forceful extortion drive while they are meekly pleading for donations this time," he added.
No matter how much milder the donation requests are, the business community said they can not afford to say no.
"Saying no to their requests for donations means inviting ill- fate which might range from violence at our industries, disturbances to work and even harm to personal health and wealth," a Terai-based industrialist who runs four industries and employs more than 500 individuals said.
All industries, big or small, including banks and financial institutions, academic centers including schools and colleges, service centers like restaurants and hotels and even hospitals, have already received letters and frequent calls from political parties -- both at institutional and personal level.
According to businessmen, they are offering (or compelled to offer) from 25,000 to 1 million Nepalese rupees, based on the size of their industries, to individual candidates and political parties.
"Though we are receiving soft-toned donation proposals this time, we are receiving them from such a large number of parties and candidates that we have not even heard of so far," said a Marwadi businessman who operates a number of industries across the country. He said he had provided donations worth around 600,000 Nepalese rupees last time, but have already donated 1.5 million this time around.
Around 1,600 candidates are contesting for the upcoming polls, while 120 political parties have been registered for the race.
Businessmen said unlike during the first CA election in 2008, they are now paying donations to all parties, big and small. Then, CPN-Maoists party had been largely notorious in collection donations forcefully.
"I am paying donations to the central level of almost all political parties," a Marwadi businessman who is also affiliated with FNCCI said, adding he is also forced to pay the amount to the local candidates from four different places where he has set up his industries.
Meanwhile, National Business Initiative (NBI) had attempted to set up a "basket fund" to streamline the donation process during the upcoming CA election. In a bid to maintain transparency, the think tank had also urged businessmen to make donation through banking channel.
"Though we could not set up the basket fund due to the limited time, we have been successful in implementing donation through the banking channel while offering the money to the central level of any political parties," Surendra Bir Malakar, NBI secretary, told Xinhua.
He, however, conceded that the collection of donations from individual candidates have gone rampant and through informal channel.
Experts and economists attribute the giving and taking of donation both as a forceful act and the exchange of interests between the givers and takers.
"It is true that some are compelled to give donations to prevent further loss or vandals. But others are offering donations happily in hope of return once the parties or candidate comes to power," Nepalese economist Bishamvar Pyakurel told Xinhua.
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