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The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) is to monitor the local level elections slated for May 13.

Speaking at a press meet organized by the NHRC in view of the upcoming local polls, Commission Chair Tapa Bahadur Magar said that the election procedures would be monitored from the human rights perspective. For this purpose, a high-level monitoring team is to be mobilized in each province.

The observation will cover pre and post-election atmosphere as well.

According to the NHRC, member Dr Surya Dhungel and his team will be in the Madhesh Province, member Mihir Thakur’s team will reach the Gandaki Province, member Manoj Duwadi will be mobilised for the Sudur Paschim Province and a team of member Lily Thapa will visit the Province 1 for the monitoring.

Prior to this, the NHRC teams had been in 30 districts for the observation of election nomination registration procedures on April 24-25.

The Commission’s 47 monitoring teams will monitor the human rights situation reaching voting booths in the 77 districts. The central office too will set up the monitoring control room for monitoring the situation, Chair Magar said.

The Commission shall monitor whether the senior citizens, people observing the death rituals, pregnant women and the disabled have easy access or not, whether the voting booths have proper arrangements, the security management, mobilization and management of security at the voting booths, the voter education, whether children have been used in the election publicity, the abidance by the code and the possible violence during the election campaigning.

Likewise, the monitoring will also be carried out from the perspective of the protection and promotion of human rights in terms of the impartiality of the election, its confidentiality, women participation, management of food and accommodation of the security personnel and employees deputed on election duty, the security arrangement of the vote counting station, the condition of use of information procedure related to the vote counting, the presence of security personnel and election observer organisations at the vote counting station, whether the victory rally was peaceful or not and whether the rest of the parties protested or created obstructions, among others.

Chair Magar said that monitoring carried out prior to the election shows that the government has made preparations for peace and security, the election officers have organized the all-party meeting, the political parties have committed to abiding by the election code of conduct and that the nomination process has been done in a peaceful and enthusiastic manner barring sporadic incidents and disputes sometimes.

Political parties in Bhaktapur district have been found violating the election code of conduct for the local elections slated for May 13.

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

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

"Poll campaigners were found to be distributing blankets and flasks in Suryabinayak and Changunarayan municipalities in a bid to influence voters. Acting on a complaint, police were sent to the area immediately to intervene against the unethical act," she said, adding that some 20 award distribution programs seeking permission were also prevented in view of the possibility of influencing the election. They have been asked to organize the program after completion of the poll, she said.

Metropolitan Police Range Bhaktapur, Superintendent of Police Shiva Kumar Shrestha said major political parties were found to be violating the election code of conduct. He shared that 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 to be indulging against the code of conduct. They have been accused of trying to woo the electorates with gifts.

According to SP Shrestha, big political parties have defied the order to remove poll publicity materials placed in various areas in violation of the code of conduct. "Political parties are expected to contribute to the enforcement of the code of conduct, but the scenario is quite different here," he said.

Chief Judge of Bhaktapur District Court Gopal Prasad Banstola, who is also the Chief Election Officer in the district, said they were overwhelmed by election-related work as the number of employees deputed for election work this time around was half the figure compared to the last election.

Stating that employees have been working from 7:00am to 7:00pm on a daily basis, he said there was a dearth of employees to carry out monitoring.

"We have been carrying out indirect monitoring while inspecting this area. We have tried our level best to stop the code violation. The parties should voluntarily follow the code of conduct which they had prepared themselves. We request political parties, journalists and conscious citizens to provide us information about the violation of the election code of conduct. We will immediately stop such activities if it violates the code, " he said. He also vowed to take action if anyone was found guilty of the offence.

Banstola, however, claimed that there were negligible instances of code violation in Bhaktapur compared to Kathmandu.

He added that they were also trying their best to stop such violations.

The chief election officer informed that the work of installing CC cameras at vote counting stations was under way. Chief of the District Election Office Narendra Prasad Neupane had briefed the district-based journalists about the code of conduct.

On the occasion, President of Working Journalists Forum, Bhaktapur and RSS reporter Ramesh Giri called for facilitating news collection and managing vehicle passes for journalists and mediapersons on Election Day.

Hearing on the writ petition filed in the Supreme Court against the government appointment of Additional Inspector of General of Police Dhiraj Pratap Singh as the chief of Nepal Police has begun.

A single bench of Justice Sushmalata Mathema has heard the petition, according to Debendra Dhakal, joint spokesperson for the apex court.

Additional Inspector of General of Police Bishworaj Pokharel on May 2 filed the petition against the promotion of AIG Singh to the 29th IGP of Nepal Police. A Cabinet meeting on May 1 promoted Singh to the IGP.

The writ petition demanded annulment of the promotion of Singh as he is one-and-a-half year junior to him.

The Nepali Congress has published the schedule for its election campaigns and assemblies for the May 13 local elections.

Top NC leaders including the party president are scheduled to address the poll campaigns, according to the chief secretary of the party office, Krishna Prasad Paudel.

As per the schedule, the party will organise a poll assembly in Biratnagar of Morang on May 4. The assembly will be addressed by NC leaders including Prime Minister and its president Sher Bahadur Deuba, senior leader Ram Chandra Paudel and general secretary Bishwo Prakash Sharma among others, said the party office.

Likewise, a poll gathering to be held on May 5 in Bharatpur in Chitwan will be addressed by party president Deuba, leader Paudel, joint general secretary Mahalaxmi Upadhyay ‘Dina’.

The NC is slated to organise poll assemblies in Kathmandu on May 6, in Butwal (Rupandehi), Damauli (Tanahun) and Janakpur (Dhanusa) on May 7, in Pokhara (Kaski) and Tulasipur (Dang) on May 8, in Dhangadhi (Kailali) on May 9 and Dadeldhura on May 10.

The assemblies will be addressed by top party leaders including president Deuba, senior leader Paudel, vice president Dhan Raj Gurung, general secretary Gagan Kumar Thapa and joint general secretaries Jeevan Pariyar, Kishor Singh Rathaur, Farmullah Mansur, Bhishma Raj Angdambe, Mahendra Yadav and Badri Pandey among others. 

The local wind, low pressure system developed from Uttar Pradesh to the flatlands of West Bengal in India and the Westerly wind have their influence in Nepal at present.

The Meteorological Forecasting Division has said the weather is partly to generally cloudy throughout the country due to the impact of this weather system with light rain taking place at one or two places of Province no 1.

It will be partly to generally cloudy in the hilly region towards the afternoon while remaining generally fair in the rest of the parts of the country. There are chances of light to moderate rainfall accompanied by thunder and lightning at few places of the hilly region.

The weather will be partly to generally cloudy in the hilly region and partly cloudy in the remaining areas tonight with chances of light rainfall accompanied by thunder and lightning at some places of Province no 1, Lumbini province and Gandaki province, and at few places of the rest of the provinces.

The weather in the federal capital, Kathmandu, is fair with warm sunshine since the morning. According to the Division, Kathmandu's maximum temperature was 28.7 degrees Celsius and minimum 16 degrees Celsius.

The rainfall in Kathmandu was measured at 43.7 millimetres on the last 24 hours.

The Election Commission has sought clarification from the mayoral election candidate in Kathmandu Metropolitan City, Keshab Sthapit, accused of making 'indecent remarks' against a woman.

Sthapit, who has filed his candidacy for the mayoral post in the KMC from main opposition CPN-UML, has been charged with making discourteous remarks against a woman at a public event here recently.

He has been asked to furnish his clarification in the case within 24 hours, said the EC spokesperson Shaligram Sharma Paudel.

Similarly, non-governmental organizations, which have expressed their concerns about the case relating to Sthapit, have also been directed to furnish their clarification without 24 hours, he added.

The Election Commission (EC) has warned of taking stern action against those involved in spreading misinformation and hate speech targeting political parties and candidates on social networking sites in the wake of local level elections.

In view of the rising spread of such content in digital spaces, the EC urged everyone not to misuse social networking sites to assassinate characters and spread rumours as it would impact elections.

In order to monitor the use of social networking sites in terms of the election, the EC has formed a task force, comprising cyber experts of security agencies.

The EC has however expected that misuse of social media would be reduced with its stern warning that no activities would be allowed against the free and fair elections. The Election Code of Conduct, 2078 has mentioned that if the social networking sites were used by ignoring the election code of conduct, EC would take action as per Section 23 of the Election Commission Act, 2073, and Election (Crime and Punishment) Act, 2073, according to EC Spokesperson and Joint Secretary Shaligram Sharma Poudel.

Moreover, the EC has initiated to contact the offices of Facebook, Twitter, TikTok, Viber and Google in a bid to regulate social networking sites as per the Election Code of Conduct, 2078. Even the Nepali Embassies in India, China, and the US have been directed via the Foreign Ministry to establish contact with such social media and cooperate in curbing the spread of misinformation.

The Financial Information Unit, Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB), has said it received 1,556 suspicious financial transactions reports till mid-March of the current fiscal year commenced on mid-July.

During the period, 465 reports were reviewed, 265 were documented while 119 have been sent to the law implementing bodies for investigation.

Meanwhile, the central bank said that till the date, the total internal borrowing liability was 60.57 billion and internal debt worth Rs 29.24 was cleared.

Similarly, as per the guidelines aims to increase supervisory effectiveness for prevention of money laundering and financial investment in terrorist activities, 15 commercial banks were supervised by the central bank during the period.