INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
HETAUDA, APRIL 16Chief Election Officer Ram Prasad Bhandari has said anyone found
breaching the election code of conduct will be subject to strong action.
EC reminds parties of poll code provisions
Election Code of Conduct comes into effect
Speaking at a media orientation in Hetauda today, Chief Election Officer Bhandari took
exception to the tendency among some political leaders to spread rumours against the Election Commission and went on to warn that breach of
election code of conduct wouldn't be tolerated.
"Even newspaper reports about election code breach could be a basis for
action against the candidate or party in question," Bhandari said, also stressing the need for the press to monitor the compliance with
standard codes."As the people trust the media most, the media by the same token has additional role in elections
Besides, the citizens have also their own responsibility to ensure successful completion of elections," he said, informing that most of the
election-related preparations had finished.The chief commissioner also underscored the need for timely election, saying the country would
otherwise be pushed years back.Press Council Nepal member Chiranjivi Maske and members of Federation of Nepali Journalists also spoke on the
occasion of the need to stop fake information and hate speech during election.Other journalists who spoke accused the Election Commission of
failing to take action against political parties and candidates even for glaring breach of election code and asked it to be more vigilant
this time.A version of this article appears in the print on April 17, 2022, of The Himalayan Times.
This article first appeared/also appeared in https://thehimalayantimes.com