Submit your Article

Shiva Sharan Maharjan of the CPN (Maoist Center) filed his nomination for the post of mayor in Kirtipur Municipality.

He filed his candidacy for the local level by-election to be held on December 1.

Similarly, Narayan Bista filed his nomination for the post of chairman in Kirtipur Municipality-4.

The party, however, extended support to Saral Gopal of the Janata Samajbadi Party in ward 1.

The election code of conduct for the local-level by-election scheduled for December 1 has officially come into effect today, Sunday.

According to the Election Commission's joint secretary and Spokesperson Nita Pokhrel Aryal, the code of conduct is applied to people holding public posts in the respective districts, to authorities concerned, and to officials.

It is applied to the Government of Nepal and its ministers, the province governments and their ministers, constitutional bodies and officials of such bodies, bodies of the Nepal government or province governments and their officials, local executives and their members, employees at the federal, province, and local level, the security bodies, security personnel and employees, government, semi-government, and public entities and employees.

Similarly, the code covers political parties and their affiliated organizations, candidates and their representatives, political parties and candidates vote-counting representatives, persons assuming public posts, officials and monitors of monitoring committees, organizations relating to election observations and election observers, media, their employees and media personnel, private and non-governmental organizations, including their officials and employees, schools or universities including teachers and staff are obliged to the compliance with the code of conduct.

The election code of conduct covers voters, development partner organizations, projects run by governmental and quasi-government bodies and their staffs, organizations conducting voter education and their employees, private sector banks and financial institutions, cooperatives, trade and industry sector, their office-bearers, employees and workers, and the office-holders, employees and workers of goods and service providing business organizations.

The Election Commission said that if works prohibited by the code have to be carried out or have them done in other places of the district except in the local level where the election is taking place, the EC should be informed beforehand and these works can be carried out as per the solution given.

The Election Commission has expressed its confidence that all will extend cooperation in conducting the election in a free, fair, peaceful and credible manner by fully adhering to the Election Code of Conduct, as it is the statutory responsibility and moral duty of all individuals, organizations and officials to abide by the code.

The EC has urged one and all to lodge complaints in writing, verbally or through social sites, electronic means or any other way if any activities are found carried out by flouting the election code or if there are adequate grounds and reasons that the code is going to be breached.

The Election Commission has warned of legal action against anyone found violating the election code of conduct.

Dhruba Maharjan of the Rastriya Prajatantra Party has filed his nomination to contest the mayoral position of Kirtipur Municipality.

Maharjan filed his candidacy for the local level by-election slated for December 1.

Likewise, Surendra Uprety and Bijesh Basnet of the RPP filed their nominations for the post of chairperson in ward 1 and 4 respectively.

Earlier, Surendra Manandhar of CPN-UML had filed his candidacy for the post of mayor.

Surendra Manandhar has registered his nomination from the CPN-UML for the post of mayor in Kirtipur Municipality. The local level by-election is going to be held on December 1.

Similarly, Harsha Maharjan and Badri Budhathoki of the UML have also registered their candidacies for the post of chairperson in ward 1 and 4 respectively.

Along with Manandhar, Krishna Man Dangol of the Nepali Congress, Shiva Sharan Maharjan of the CPN (Maoist Center) and Dhruba Maharjan of the Rastriya Prajatantra Party have registered their nominations for the post of mayor in Kirtipur.

A high-level meeting on Nepal-India border security coordination kicked off in Kathmandu on Saturday.

The meeting to continue till Monday is holding discussions on cross-border crime control and is expected to draw a conclusion on controlling illegal entry of third countries' nationals, the Inspector General of Armed Police Force (APF) Raju Aryal said.

The discussions are underway on the border security issues tabled by APF Inspector General Aryal. 

Proposals have been tabled from the Nepali side on crime control in the border areas and exchange of information for this, control of revenue leakage and human trafficking as well as the control of illegal entry of citizens of third countries.

The Nepali delegation in the meeting comprises high-level security officials including APF Chief Aryal, officials from the Home Ministry, National Investigation Department, Survey Department and Ministry of Foreign Affairs.  

Likewise, Director General of India's SSB Amrit Mohan Prasad has led a six-member Indian delegation.

Dengue has been confirmed in 18,339 people in Gandaki Province in the last 10 months.

The Ministry of Health of the provincial government stated that eight people died due to the disease. The first casualty of dengue was a 48-year-old man from Tanahun who died on July 25, 2024.

Since then, a 40-year-old man died due to dengue on August 6 and a 52-year-old woman died on August 15 in Kaski while a 61-year-old male died in Myagdi on September 4. Similarly, four women, aged 81, 70, 75 and 26 died due to dengue in Kaski on September 6, September 18, September 30 and October 20, respectively, the Ministry stated.

During this period, the highest number of 8,979 dengue cases were reported in Kaski and the lowest six cases in Manang district in the province, Prashanta Raj Sharma, Information Officer at the Ministry, said.

According to Sharma, dengue was confirmed in 8,858 persons in Pokhara Metropolitan City, the province capital, alone. He said 12 local levels in the province are so far untouched by the disease.

Dengue was found in 70 people in the province last January whereas 6,267 people were infected with the disease until September. The number of cases was 6,044 in October and it is 947 since the start of November till date, the Ministry said.

It is confirmed that the poliovirus found in a sample of the sewage taken from the Tukucha rivulet in Kathmandu last July is not contagious.

Lily Shrestha, the Medical Chief at the National Public Health Laboratory, said that the virus detected in the sample is not polio infectious. The test was conducted in Bangkok, Thailand.

"We did not again find the poliovirus from the tests carried out from time to time on the samples collected from the sewage and other places to determine whether the virus found in the Tukucha rivulet had spread or not. If that virus had spread, it would have been detected in the sewage mixed in the rivulet. This was not the case and we confirmed that it was not the poliovirus," she explained.

Poliovirus was found in a sample collected from the confluence of Bagmati and Tukucha rivulet near Tripureshwar of Kathmandu Metropolitan City-12 last July.

Chief of the Child Health and Immunization Section, Department of Health Services, Dr Abhiyan Gautam, said that samples have been continuously collected and tested 13 times after the detection of the poliovirus in the sample collected from Tukucha rivulet, but it was not detected again.

The Section has been collecting samples and testing them for the presence of poliovirus since 2017. Samples are collected from the Bagmati, Dhobikhola, Manahara, Bishnumati rivers in Kathmandu and tested two times monthly for the presence of poliovirus, Dr Gautam added.

Similarly, samples are collected and tested for the presence of poliovirus once a month in Pokhara, Biratnagar and Janakpur.

Dr Gautam said that polio infection has not been found in the country since 2010.

Kulman Ghising, Executive Director of Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA), has announced that industries failing to pay their dedicated and trunk line dues will face power cuts again within 15 days. Ghising stated that although service was temporarily restored based on a Council of Ministers decision, industries were given a 15-day window to settle outstanding dues.

In a press conference on Wednesday, Ghising explained that the government has instructed NEA to collect arrears within this period, requiring industries to pay according to the government’s decision. He maintained that the discounted bills for dedicated and trunk lines are accurate, as they are based on Time of Day (TOD) meters, and clarified that NEA will not issue new bills. Industrialists are expected to settle dues based on the current bills.

Some industrialists have contested the accuracy of these bills, taking the matter to court. However, both the Electricity Regulatory Commission and the Public Accounts Committee, along with other bodies, have upheld the disputed bills as correct, dismissing approximately 90 cases. Ghising reiterated that as NEA is bound by its legal framework as a commission, decisions on such bills should not come from other administrative bodies.

The Electricity Regulatory Commission has instructed NEA to offer installment payments but not reconnect service until the first installment is paid. Despite repeated offers to pay in installments, Ghising claims that industries continue to politicize the issue instead of paying their dues.

Following a three-month grace period without payment, NEA disconnected power to delinquent industries on October 24. The authority reconnected service with a plan for 28 installment payments. As of now, approximately 14 industries have paid their first installment, and NEA has again issued a 15-day ultimatum after a cabinet decision on November 10 to reconnect within 24 hours, collect arrears within 15 days based on TOD meters, and implement the Lal Commission report on the dedicated and trunk line arrears.

The Lal Commission Report, established by former judge Girish Chandra Lal under the Prachanda government, aims to resolve the arrears dispute. In response to the government’s directive, NEA’s board of directors reconnected lines on Tuesday and set a deadline to collect dues within 15 days.

Initially, 339 industries were dedicated trunkline customers, most of whom paid their dues, according to NEA data. Of the remaining 39 industries, seven are under a court-ordered stay, while about 28 have yet to pay any installments. Ghising warned that if dues are not settled within the 15-day period, NEA will initiate the disconnection process once more.

Ghising emphasized the need for a long-term solution to avoid the recurring cycle of disconnections and unpaid dues, noting that NEA's financial health is increasingly at risk. “We cut about 200,000 lines each year for overdue payments, even for as little as Rs 1,000. Due to these arrears, collection rates have dropped from over 95% to around 80-85%. If this continues, NEA’s financial position may reach a critical state,” Ghising said.

According to him, NEA must raise about Rs 10-11 billion in revenue monthly, with Rs 7-8 billion allocated to pay independent power producers under Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs), and Rs 2 billion for administrative and maintenance costs. The reduced budget provided by the government, down from Rs 30 billion to Rs 3-4 billion, is insufficient even to cover taxes.

He noted that NEA circulates about Rs 1.5 billion in the market, significantly impacting the broader economy.