Kathmandu, October 27

The parliamentary party meeting of the UCPN-M today issued a whip to all its lawmakers to vote for CPN-UML vice-chairperson Bidhya Devi Bhandari in the presidential election scheduled for tomorrow.

The meeting also endorsed the party’s standing committee’s decision to appoint Hitraj Pande as the party’s chief whip as the post had been lying vacant after former chief whip Giriraj Mani Pokhrel was appointed education minister on October 18.

According to Pande, the party would also take a decision on electing vice-chairperson and and deputy whip after the presidential and vice-presidential election.

Similarly, UCPN-M deputy chief Top Bahadur Rayamajhi has joined the government as Deputy Prime Minister and whip Rekha Sharma as Minister for General Administration.

UCPN-M Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal directed all party lawmakers to show theaspirit of unity during the presidential election tomorrow.

Code of conduct for ministers

KATHMANDU: The ruling Unified CPN-Maoist today issued a code of conduct for its ministers and urged them to prepare an immediate and long-term plan for their respective ministries.

As per the code of conduct, ministers should perform the tasks related to promotion, transfer, training and foreign junkets in an institutional and impartial manner. The ministers have been asked not to appoint their relatives as their personal secretaries.

The party has also directed the ministers to submit their property details within 10 days of their appointment and resignation and asked them to strictly follow diplomatic norms, refrain from using government vehicles for personal purposes and maintain transparency and accountability.

According to party vice chair Narayan Kaji Shrestha, the party has also directed them to submit monthly progress report on the tasks carried out by their respective ministries.