Kathmandu, April 8:

Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Bhoj Raj Pokharel today asked all political parties and their candidates to accept the results of the election and rein in their cadres.

Issuing an appeal, the CEC called on the political parities and the candidates to use the silence period to bury all differences and bitterness among them.

The CEC urged the government, political parties, candidates, public servants, voters, the Press, civil society and the observers to help the commission in holding the election in a democratic way and to accept the results.

“This is an important time for the political parties to exercise self-control,” Pokharel said. He also clarified that the voting would be secret and nobody can know who the people voted for. Stating that confusions were being created regarding the secrecy of the election, Pokharel assured the voters of the secrecy of the voting.

“In order to increase the secrecy, the EC has made arrangements to count the votes only after mixing together the ballot papers of two or three poling stations,” Pokhrel added.

Chief Election Commissioner Pokharel asked the voters to cast their votes for the parties and candidates they had chosen without any fear.

He, however, said it would take a few days to count the ballots and urged the candidates and their cadres not to lose their temper while waiting for results.

The CEC also asked the parties to exercise democratic practice in the election and show example to the world. He also urged all concerned to help the returning officers deployed for the election in completing their task of holding the polls in free, fair and peaceful

manner. He also urged national and international poll observers to play their role in an independent and fair manner.

In its regular news briefing, the Election Commission clarified that the government employees, employees of the government-owned corporations and local bodies, army, police, People’s Liberation Army personnel staying in cantonments, prisoners and public servants and security personnel deployed for election duties can vote only for the parties and not the FPTP candidates.