Conduct to be followed by ministers & local level officials in election campaig

KATHMANDU: The Election Commission (EC)’s Election Code of Conduct, 2079, should be followed by Nepalese government or state government ministers or officials of the local executive when they are involved in election campaigning to ensure that the election of members of the House of Representatives and members of the State Assembly is held in a clean, free, fair, fearless, and frugal manner. It has arranged for the conducts to be carried out.

Clause (a) of Section 5 of the Code of Conduct specifies the conduct to be followed during election campaigning by the Government of Nepal, the State Government, and Ministers of the Government of Nepal or the State Government, as well as the local executive and their officers.

According to the revised code of conduct, a minister who is also a candidate in the election may participate in election campaigning in the district in which he is running. The use of government resources to spread such propaganda is prohibited by the code of conduct.

The EC has directed the Ministers of the Nepalese Government through the Prime Minister’s Office and the Council of Ministers, as well as the Ministers of the State Government through the Chief Minister’s Office and the Council of Ministers, to comply with and implement those arrangements.

The code of ethics states that the minister of the Nepalese government may participate in the election campaign of the relevant political party in the location where he has obtained the commission’s consent, and the minister of the state government may participate in the election campaign of the relevant political party in the location within the respective province where he has obtained the commission’s consent through the state election offical.

According to the Code of Conduct, officials of the local executive may participate in political party election campaigns at local levels other than the one in which they are present.