KATHMANDU, NOVEMBER 8
Chief Election Commissioner Dinesh Kumar Thapaliya has urged private sector industrialists and businesspersons to help create conducive environment for the November 20 election to the House of Representatives and provincial assemblies.
He said this while addressing a programme titled 'Interaction with Private Sector' organised at the Election Commission today.
The programme had the participation of leading private sector organisations and individuals.
On the occasion, CEC Thapaliya urged entrepreneurs and businesspersons to also disseminate the Commission's information and messages through their information mechanism as part of their corporate social responsibility.
He asked them to connect to the Commission's social site and disseminate through their organisational mechanism and social sites election-related resources such as voter education, election code of conduct and related messages and information produced by the Commission.
Reiterating that the cooperation of entrepreneurs would be important for the nation and democracy, the chief election commissioner also urged them to facilitate employees working in their organisations to cast their votes on election day. He said the country's economy was at a very difficult juncture at present and expressed confidence that the situation would change for the better after elections.
"We are hearing about liquidity crunch, increment in interest rate and dwindling savings. This has created a situation wherein it looks like the entrepreneurs will start leaving their businesses. This is also related to the election in one way or the other. It is our hope that the election will help take the economy towards a positive direction after its conclusion," he said.
Stating that global practice shows that expenditure in election is mostly unproductive, CEC Thapaliya asked for forgiveness from the private sector business community for the inconvenience (if any) caused by the Election Commission's efforts to make the election economical.
He informed that home work was being done to allow essential service vehicles and other vehicles as well to operate on the day of election in a systematic and regulated way on the basis of need and relevance.
Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry acting President Chandra Dhakal expressed happiness, saying that the Election Commission had interacted with the private sector also in connection to making the election successful.
He expressed commitment to implementing the Commission's request through his apparatus.
FNCCI Vice-president Anjan Shrestha urged the Election Commission to allow entrepreneurs' vehicles to operate on the day of voting and to give them the responsibility of election observation.
Ramesh Thapa, president of Nepal Association of Tour and Travel Agents, expressed the business community's commitment to implement the Commission's request. He also urged the Commission to facilitate the smooth operation of transport services for tourists on election day.
A version of this article appears in the print on November 9, 2022 of The Himalayan Times.
