Political parties in Bhaktapur found violating election code of conduct

BHAKTAPUR: MAY. 4 – Political parties in Bhaktapur district have been found violating the election code of conduct for the May 13 local election.

This information was shared at a media interaction on the poll organised here today jointly by the District Administration Office and the District Election Office.

In a case, police were mobilised to stop the distribution of essential by-election campaigners in a bid to influence voters, shared Chief District Officer Rudra Devi Sharma on the occasion.

“Poll campaigners have been found distributing blankets and flask bottles in Suryabinayak and Changunarayan to influence voters. Acting on a complaint, police were sent immediately to intervene in the unethical act,” she said, adding that some 20 award distribution programmes seeking permission were also prevented in view of possibly influencing the election. They have been asked to take place after the poll, she said.

Metropolitan Police Range Bhaktapur, superintendent of police Shiva Kumar Shrestha said major political parties were found violating the election code of conduct. As he shared, election publicity materials displayed at 19 locations breaching the code of conduct were removed.

Representatives of the District Administration Office and the Election Officer said political parties in the district were found indulging in anti-code of conduct affairs. They have been alleged to try to woo electorates with gifts.

As SP Shrestha, big political parties disobeyed the order to remove poll publicity materials placed violating the code of conduct. “Political parties are highly expected to contribute to the enforcement of the code of conduct, but the case is different here,” he said.

Chief Judge at Bhaktapur District Court, Gopal Prasad Banstola, who is also the Chief Election Officer in the district, said that they were overwhelmed with election-related work as the number of employees deputed for election-related work this time is half their numbers during the last election.

Stating that the employees are working from 7 am to 7 pm every day, he said there was a dearth of employees to carry out monitoring.

“We have been carrying out indirect monitoring when moving up and down this road. We have tried our level best to stop code violations. The parties should voluntarily follow the code of conduct that they themselves prepared. We request the political parties, journalists and conscious citizens to inform us about the violation of the election code of conduct. We will immediately stop such activities if found in violation of the code, ” he said and vowed to take action if found guilty of the offence.

Bastola however claimed that there were negligible instances of a code violation in Bhaktapur in comparison to Kathmandu. He added that they were also trying best to stop even these violations.

The Chief Election Officer informed that the work of installing CC cameras at vote-counting stations was underway.

Chief of the District Election Office, Narendra Prasad Neupane had briefed the district based journalists about the code of conduct for the media and journalists.

On the occasion, the president of Working Journalists Forum Bhaktapur and RSS reporter Ramesh Giri called for facilitating news collection and managing vehicle passes for the journalists and media persons on Election Day. He also suggested setting up a media room at the vote-counting station.