KATHMANDU: Chief Election Commissioner Ayodhee Prasad Yadav said that the Election Commission will take action against ministers if they have breached the election code of conduct and are involved in election campaigning during the silence period.

If you have found ministers involved in such activities, tell us their names objectively, he added, action will be taken against them as per the election laws.

The Election Commission will seek clarification from the accused and if their clarification is not satisfactory then they can be fined also, according to him.

Ministers also could take part in the election campaign as a citizen and without exploiting the state's resources, he said at a press conference here in the Election Commission on the eve of the local level elections in 34 districts.

Responding to a question, he said the Election Commission had already drawn attention of the stakeholders including the Prime Minister and former prime ministers to stick to the election code of the conduct.

Sometimes media also exaggerates issues and scares us and people, he said. Later, he asked if the media has followed  by the election code of conduct.

He accepted that there could be some shortcomings on the part of the Election Commission also on the preparations for the elections.

With the state-issued identity cards like old voter's card, citizenship certificate, passport or license, he said voters can cast ballot tomorrow if they have not received new voter's identity card yet.