EC continues election activities in Tihar festival

By A Staff Reporter

Kathmandu, Oct. 30: The Election Commission continued its election related activities even during the Tihar holidays, which lasted for record five days this year.

In these five days, the EC issued several notices, including the final lists of the candidates contesting the elections under the Proportional Representation (PR) category.

 On Monday, the first day of Tihar holiday,  the EC issued a statement informing about its decision to prevent the political figures, who are holding the positions of profit, from misusing the government’s resources during the electioneering.

As per the statement, the EC had issued directives to the Office of the Prime Minister and the Council of Ministers and the Office of Chief Minister and the Council of Ministers of provinces to instruct its ministers to abide by the Clause 5 (A) and (A1) and provisions of the election code of conduct and help the Commission conduct the elections in a free, fair and credible manner.

Stating that the Commission had received information from various sources that the Prime Minister along with the ministers have used helicopters to fly to various places for election campaign, the EC has sought clarifications from Prime Minister and senior leaders of various political parties whether the expenses incurred while using the helicopters would be covered by the government fund or not.

Similarly, on Tuesday, the EC issued a seven-point instruction to the political parties and candidates regarding the opening of their contact offices for the purpose of the upcoming federal and provincial elections.

The EC has allowed each candidate to the House of Representatives (HoR) to open maximum three contact offices in their constituency covering the provincial constituencies while each candidate to  the provincial assembly can open only one contact office.

Similarly, the candidates who are enlisted in the closed list of the HoR and provincial assembly under proportional representatives (PR) electoral system can open one contact office in each constituency. If the contact office is established in the rented house, then the expenses for the house rent should be included in the election expenditure of candidates.

The EC has also asked the political parties and candidates to immediately inform the office of the retuning officer, district administration office, district police office and district election office about the establishment of their contact offices.

On the same day, the EC issued a statement urging members of the public to refrain from making negative comments on prominent leaders.

Expressing its concern over the ‘No, Not Again’ campaign initiated against a section of the top political leaders in social media platforms, the EC said it had taken cognisance of some social site users publishing misleading and biased contents and giving offensive statements against  the candidates contesting the upcoming election.

The EC also warned of taking stringent action against those involved in such acts.

Likewise, issuing a statement on the same day, the EC informed that the candidatures of 550 persons  who were in the closed lists of the proportional representatives (PR) category submitted by the political parties were rejected. 

According to the EC, their candidatures had been rejected since they did not pay the due fines in time and did not meet the required qualification to be PR candidates. 

Out of 6,457 candidates whose names were included in the closed lists, 369 candidates failed to pay the penalty prescribed according to the election law and the code of conduct. 

It was found that they had not submitted the details of the election expenses after taking part in the May 13 local polls and failed to pay the prescribed fine within the deadline. 

Similarly, the names of those who  were holding the public position and those who were in the blacklist for various reasons have been removed, the EC said. 

Likewise on Wednesday, the EC issued the final list of the PR candidates to the  HoR and provincial assemblies election slated for November 20. 

There are 2,199 candidates to the HoR under the PR category. Likewise, 616 candidates are in the fray for the PR seats in Province-1, 863 in Madhes, 754 in Bagmati, 344 in Gandaki, 579 in Lumbini, 200 in Karnali and 352 in Sudurpaschim Province assemblies. 

Similarly, issuing a statement on Friday, the EC called for zero tolerance towards disinformation, misinformation and hate speeches in the elections. 

The call had been made by the EC as per the Election Code of Conduct, 2079 issued for the election to the  HoR and Provincial Assembly members. 

In order to ensure that the right to freedom of expression granted by the constitution is fully utilised during the election, the EC has implemented the ‘Policy on the Use of Social Media, 2077.’