KATHMANDU, Feb 20: Officiating Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Ram Prasad Bhandari has appealed to all media outlets not to conduct any form of opinion polls ahead of the March 5 election to the House of Representatives.
Addressing a programme organized by the Election Commission (EC) on Thursday to mark the 10th Election Day, CEC Bhandari made such an appeal to the media. He reminded that since the Election Code of Conduct prohibits opinion polls, action will be taken against those who violate it.
He also underscored the need for heightened vigilance during the election period, noting that misinformation can easily spread with false news presented as true and vice versa.
Calling upon supporters of political parties to work towards conducting the election by complying with the Election Code of Conduct, he emphasized that they should refrain from defaming others through social media.
“Let us work based on truth and facts. As social media has become a sensitive issue during elections, let us be careful while using it,” he requested.
Officiating CEC Bhandari urges media to rely on official source...
Appealing to the voters, he urged them to elect the right representatives without succumbing to pressure or undue influence.
During his speech, he shared that a security meeting has been convened to devise election related security policies and strategies for the successful conduct of the election.
Furthermore, he cautioned that the Office of the Election Officer in the respective districts could take action against those running election campaigns in violation of the Election Code of Conduct.
The EC also reminded election observers to perform only the duties assigned to them.
He requested all involved, including volunteer educators engaged in voter education, staff assigned to the election process, security personnel and everyone associated, to work in a way that encourages maximum voter turnout and ensures that all cast votes are counted.
Officiating Chief Election Commissioner Bhandari emphasised that even a small mistake in elections can lead to major problems, so it is necessary to work attentively with high morale.
EC Secretary Krishna Bahadur Raut stated that election officials are being appointed and trained for the election in each district.
He also said that the EC is providing many subjects related to electoral education through its website and the official social media pages of the commission. Secretary Raut said that work is being carried out to educate voters in all 6,743 wards across the country.
Raut added that to make the elections transparent, this time the commission has passed the expenditure management procedure and mandated that political parties and candidates must also open separate accounts for election purposes.
EC’s Joint Secretary and Spokesperson Narayan Prasad Bhattarai said that the EC started celebrating Election Day from 7th Falgun 2073 (18 February 2017) to commemorate the first election in Nepal on 7th Falgun 2015 BS (18 February 1959).
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