KATHMANDU, APRIL 11

The Election Commission has issued show cause notices to Madhav Kumar Nepal-led CPN (Unified Socialist) and Nepali Congress leader Shashank Koirala for allegedly violating election code of conduct.

EC Spokesperson Shaligram Sharma Paudel said at a daily press briefing that the poll panel had sought clarification from the CPN (US) within three days for violating election code of conduct during a programme organised at Bhrikuti Mandap on Saturday. Koirala, on the other hand, has been asked to submit a report within a week regarding the alleged breach of poll code.

Recently, media reports quoted Shashank Koirala as saying that he had spent Rs 60 million in the last Parliamentary elections. Koirala made the remark to drive home the point that contesting election was expensive. The EC spokesperson said Koirala had submitted a report to the EC after the 2017 parliamentary elections stating that he had spent Rs 2,175,000. The EC had set a Rs 2.5-million-limit on poll expenditure for the first-pastthe-post candidates in the last general election.

The EC has delegated powers to chief district officers to monitor poll code compliance till chief returning officers and returning officers set up their offices in districts. The EC has dispatched voter lists to all returning officers.

The EC has signed an agreement with Press Council Nepal authorising the PCN to monitor poll code compliance by media outlets - print, audiovisual, and online media.

The Election Commission will conduct media orientation programme in all seven provinces to make mediapersons' role effective in the compliance of poll code.

More than 40,000 representatives will be elected through the local polls in 753 local levels across the country.

A version of this article appears in the print on April 12, 2022, of The Himalayan Times.