Election Readiness

With the November 20 elections to the federal and provincial legislatures approaching very soon, preparations being made for the polls have now reached their final stage. The Election Commission (EC) has been working day and night on preparations to conduct the impending polls in a free, fair and credible manner.  The poll authority has already dispatched ballot papers and other election-related materials to all the chief returning officers’ offices nationwide. The political parties, their candidates as well as independent nominees have been carrying out publicity campaigns and door-to-door canvassing to convince the voters. They will keep carrying out their electioneering drives until the silence period begins. The EC is committed to enforcing the election code of conduct in letter and spirit in order to hold the polls in a dignified manner.  The constitutional body on Sunday directed the District Code of Conduct Monitoring Committees to ensure that the political parties and candidates won’t conduct any poll campaign and promotion programmes 48 hours before the voting day until vote counting is over. 

This fresh order on the part of the Election Commission is in line with Section 24 (sub-section 5) of the Election Offences and Punishment Act-2017 and Section 17 of the Election Code of Conduct-2022. The EC has also asked the monitoring committees to take a swift action against the employees and personnel associated with the federal, provincial and local governments, public and semi-government organisations, projects run by the government or development committees if they are found flouting the poll code. Meanwhile, the EC has called on the Ministry of Home Affairs to instruct the Nepal Police to put a ban on the sale, distribution and consumption of alcohol throughout the country during the prohibition period. The laws have also authorised the local administration to confiscate the liquors when it realises the need for this. The sale and consumption of alcohol may lead to disruptions of poll environment.  

The EC has decided to write to the Nepal Police through the Ministry of Home Affairs, and the National Investigation Department through the Office of the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers to strictly monitor the compliance of the election code by the political parties and candidates. The police administration has also been asked to see whether the poll expenses being made by the political parties and candidates are within the set limits or not.  The police personnel mobilised for the election are required to submit a report to the district-based office every day by 7:00 pm. Then, the district-based office needs to send the report to Joint Election Operation Centre of the EC. In a bid to avoid unpleasant incidents during the electoral process, the district code of conduct monitoring committees, election officers and monitoring officers have also been assigned to take action against any political party or candidate if they are found indulged in unlawful activities, partying and walking around with weapons or other banned substances with an aim of creating a sense of fear and intimidation or disturbing the election.  

In the meantime, teams of Nepal Police, Nepali Army, Armed Police Force and National Investigation Department have got to the designated constituencies to provide poll security. According to these security agencies, the Nepal Police has mobilised a total of 71,693 personnel, Nepali Army 74,000, APF 35,000 along with 115,000 temporary policemen and over 7,000 informants of the National Investigation Department. Temporary police personnel have been in the field for security preparations for the polls over the past three weeks. The security forces are all set to tackle any possible security threat to help hold the elections successfully.