Kathmandu, May 11

The Election Commission will soon issue a circular to ban use of public as well as private vehicles in 34 districts of Provinces 3, 4 and 6 on the polling day.

EC’s Spokesperson Surya Prasad Sharma said the poll panel would soon issue a circular to all authorities concerned to stop vehicular movement from 5:00 am to 7:00 pm on May 14, the day first phase of local level elections would be held.

The EC, however, stated that on the polling day, it would allow ambulances and vehicles used by security agencies, emergency services and the Press after they got approval from the EC, besides vehicles of local administration.

Sharma said the EC had decided to stop vehicular movement on the polling day to ensure free and fair elections.

“Banning public and private vehicles is necessary to ensure that people who want to manipulate votes cannot travel easily and voters intending to cast bogus votes cannot travel easily,” Sharma said.

The EC has also alerted all parties and their nominees about the silence period that starts after midnight today. The poll panel reminded them that Clause 69 of the Local Level Elections Directives barred political parties from continuing their poll campaigns or soliciting votes in the silence period that starts 48 hours before the voting day.

The poll code of conduct also bans display of election symbols and election campaign materials within a radius of 300 metres of polling stations.

The EC stated that the parties should not indulge in campaigning through social networking sites or through SMS, WhatsApp, Viber or other means.