Silence period to begin on Friday

BY A STAFF REPORTER, Kathmandu, Nov. 16:  The candidates and political parties have only two days left for canvassing, as the ‘silence period’ is going to start after Thursday midnight. The silence period begins 48 hours ahead of the polling day. 

From Friday morning, the Election Commission will enforce ‘silence period’ for the November 20 elections to the House of Representatives (HoR) and provincial assemblies. 

The Election Code of Conduct, 2022 has provided 15 days for the canvassing. 

As canvassing period is about to end, political parties and candidates have intensified their campaign. 

The Commission reminded candidates and political parties about section 24 (5) of the Election Offenses and Punishment Act that prohibits from engaging in election campaign before 48 hours ahead of the polling day. 

The silence period, when election campaigning is prohibited in all form, will remain until voting day on Sunday, said Election Commissioner Ram Prasad Bhandari. 

Talking about the silence period, Bhandari said that any party, institution, candidate or individual should not engage in poll publicity. 

Bhandari warned that those caught campaigning in violation of the prohibition would be punished according to Election Offenses and Punishment Act. 

According to the Act, those violating the code of conduct face fines up to Rs. 100,000. 

“As the election date is nearing, the cases of election code violation are likely to rise. Considering this fact, the EC and its monitoring officers have remained very watchful. The Commission had also asked the local administration and security personnel to remain alert,” said Bhandari. 

Asking parties, candidates and all others concerned to abide by the election code of conduct, he said violation of election code of conduct was subject to punishment.

As per the election code of conduct, parties, candidates, office bearers, civil society organisations, media and voters are not allowed to carry out any kind of publicity campaign until the voting concludes. Social networks, such as Facebook, Twitter, among others, should not be used for campaigning during the silence period. 

Similarly, 300-metre perimeter of polling centres has to be cleared of election symbols and publicity materials before the silence period begins.