KATHMANDU, MARCH 6
The silence period for the presidential election scheduled for March 9 will start from midnight today.
There are two candidates in the election fray - Ramchandra Paudel from the Nepali Congress and Subas Chandra Nembang from the CPN-UML. The current nine-party alliance has supported Paudel whereas the Nembang is the UML's candidate.
The Election Commission issued a press release reminding everybody not to solicit votes through any medium of communication during the silence period that will remain in effect till the presidential election.
The EC said it was issuing the prohibitory order against solicitation of votes in order to ensure free, fair, reliable, transparent and fearless environment for the presidential election as provisioned in the election code of conduct.
The EC reminded the candidates, political parties, and the public that in accordance with Section 24 (5) of the Election (Offences and Punishment) Act, and section 17 of Election Code of Conduct, 2023, soliciting votes through meetings, conferences, workshops, seminars, or social networking sites was prohibited. It also reminded media outlets not to publish any report projecting the win of any candidate as that goes against the poll code.
The EC requested all concerned to maintain the fairness and dignity of the election by following the election law and code of conduct.
An electoral college consisting of members of the federal Parliament and provincial assemblies will elect the new president. Secret ballots will be used in the election and there will be two booths at the Lhotse hall of the Parliament – one for federal lawmakers and the other for members of provincial assemblies to cast their votes, said Assistant Polling Officer Amrita Kumari Sharma.
Two political parties - Rajendra Lingden-led Rastriya Prajatantra Party and Rabi Lamichhne-led Rastriya Swatantra Party - are among the parties that remain undecided as to which of the two candidates they will vote for.
RPP lawmaker Roshan Karki told THT that her party would hold its central working committee meeting on March 8 and take a call on the presidential election. One section of the RPP holds that as the party is advocating constitutional monarchy, it should remain neutral on presidential election.
Vice-president of RSP DP Aryal told THT that his party would take a call only on March 9 about which party it would support for president. "We are closely monitoring the political situation, but one thing is sure, we won't issue whip to our lawmakers because there is no provision for issuing whip for presidential election," he argued.
A version of this article appears in the print on March 7, 2023, of The Himalayan Times.
