Submit your Article

Ram Krishna Chaudhari from Tikapur Municipality-6 of Kailali was standing in line for his turn to get chemical fertilizer from a cooperative, but its office got closed without providing the supply. In the morning, he was in line for the chemical fertilizers needed for winter crops. He was however denied the fertilizer showing it dearth. “Chemical fertilizer is the one we get most worried about when it is time for cultivation. It is difficult to cultivate after shortage of fertilizer,” he said, adding that the cooperatives only provide it to their share holders. Laxman Chaudhari from the same locality shared similar plight, “It has been more than a week the land is tilled, but chemical fertilizer is not received. If the problem persists, I will not continue cultivation.” Similary, Suresh Kathariya from Bhajani Municipality-6 is planning for foreign employment said, “He had been able to sow wheat seeds only in five bighas out of 15 bighas of land. It was because of the lack of fertilizer.” He further said if the chemical fertilizer was available in market on time, he could cultivate all his land and sow wheat seeds. These are representative cases how the farmers are afflicted with unavailability of essential during the cultivation time. Manager of the cooperative, Govind Rawat, admitted that they were not able to distribute the chemical fertilizers to all farmers. Even the farmers growing seeds could not be provided the fertilizers, he added. The time for cultivation of winter crops is fleeting. Similarly, Dhansinghpur Agriculture Cooperatives of Tikapur Municipality-8 also said it was unable to distribute chemical fertilizers. Cooperatives’ Chairperson Dhansing Saud said, “The fertilizer selling depot provides only 50 to 60 packs which is too little to address the growing demand.”

The Election Commission (EC) has reminded political parties and candidates participating in the elections to the House of Representatives and Province Assembly to submit details of their election expenditures within 35 days of the announcement of the poll results. The voting for the twin elections was held on November 20. The details of election expenditures under the first-past-the-post system should be submitted to the respective province and the district election office in line with the House of Representatives and the Province Assembly Election Directives, 2079. The candidates should mention details of their bank accounts and the responsible persons who have been tasked with looking after election expenditures. Similarly, under the expenditures used for election publicity campaign, the respective candidates should submit the details to the election office within 15 days of the completion of the voting by themselves or through their representatives. Similarly, under the proportional representation system, details of the election expenditures should be submitted within 35 days of the completion of the voting as per the Member of the House of Representatives Proportional Election Directives, 2079 (34), and the Member of the Province Assembly Proportional Election Directives, 2079 (36).

Out of over 9.3 million votes counted so far under the proportional representation, the CPN-UML is leading with 2,534,323 votes. The Nepali Congress is following with 2,399,831. Similarly, the Rastriya Swatantra Party has got 1,063,718, the CPN (Maoist Center) 1,062,747, the Rastriya Prajatantra Party 545,656 and the Janata Samajwadi Party 326,372. The Janamat Party and the CPN (Unified Socialist) are struggling to cross the threshold with 262,826 and 252,027 votes respectively. According to the EC, the Nagarik Unmukti Party has got 237,962 votes, the Loktantrik Samajbadi Party 127,918, the Nepal Workers and Peasants Party 72,800, the Hamro Nepali Party 52,843, the Mangol National Organisation 45,663, the Rastriya Janamorcha 44,873, the Nepal Sanghiya Samajbadi party 31,229 and the CPN (ML) 26,971. A total of 47 parties had participated under the PR. Likewise, the EC has continued the counting of PR votes of provinces.  A total of 1,584,869 votes have been counted so far in Province 1. Similarly, 1,625,758 votes were counted in Madhes Province, 1,598,434 in Bagmati Province, 918,839 in Gandaki Province, 1,859,062 in Lumbini Province, 577,829 in Karnali Province and 807,138 in Sudurpaschim Province.  

With the completion of vote count, the candidates of the elections to the House of Representatives and Provincial Assembly have begun submitting the spending they made during campaigning. The Election Commission had decided to impose a fine to the candidates with an equal amount of spending ceiling if they failed to submit the election expense within the stipulated time. The final result of the vote count in Nuwakot district was announced last Saturday. On Sunday, just a day after the completion of vote count, seven election candidates submitted their expenses. Election officer at district election office, Jay Prasad Gautam, informed that seven candidates submitted details of expenses while a dozen others took forms. Newly elected member for Province Assembly from constituency-2 (a), Ram Kumar Dhungana, reached election office on Sunday while he was scheduled to thank the voters in Bidur Municipality along with another elected one. Dhungana himself reached the election office along with bills. "I'm submitting details on election spending as per legal provision. The exchange of gratitude can be continued some days later too," he said, adding he had heard that the candidates of local level election violating the EC rule were fined. The Election Commission had fixed the ceiling that each candidate for House of Representatives member under the FPTP category could spend up to Rs 3.1 million in constituency no 1, while Rs 2.9 million in constituency no 2 of Nuwakot district. Similarly, under the Provincial Assembly election, all four candidates for FPTP category were allowed to spend as much as Rs 1.7 million while it was Rs 200 thousand for the proportional under HoR, and Rs 150 thousand for proportional under Province level. The candidates are asked to submit the spending within a month of final vote count.

Rice productivity has increased in Jhapa district. Although the area for rice plantation was shrunken this year, the production continued rising, according to Sagar Bista, Chief of Agriculture Knowledge Center in the district. The production of the monsoon rice this year was 4.89 metric ton per hectare while it was 4.85 metric ton in the fiscal year 2078/89. This year, the district cultivated rice in 86,625 hectares of land while it had done in 87,500 hectares of land last year. The area for rice cultivation has declined due to plotting and erosion of land, but the productivity is on rise.

Vote count under the proportional representation under the elections to the House of Representatives and the Province Assembly is ongoing. Out of over 17.9 million numbers of registered voters, the voters’ turnout was 61 percent, according to the EC. So far, approximately 80 percent of the votes was counted, said the EC’s Spokesperson Shaligram Sharma Paudel. (Approximately 2.4 million votes remain to count). According to latest updates, out of 8,774,661 votes counted, the CPN (UML) is leading with 2,413,222 followed by the Nepali Congress with 2,294,983. Similarly, the CPN (Maoist Center) has secured 1,005,679 votes, the Rastriya Swatantra Party 983,522, the Rastriya Prajatantra Party 513,911, the Janata Samajwadi Party 300,449, and the CPN (Unified Socialist) 235,375. Similarly, the Janamat Party got 234,127, the Nagarik Unmukti Party 202,079, the Loktantrik Samajwadi Party 122,557, the Nepal Workers Peasants Party 70,371, the Hamro Nepal Party 49,627, the Rastriya Janamorcha 43,926 and the Mangol National Organisation 44,208. The Nationalist People Party has received lowest 1,504 votes.

A centenarian cast his vote under the elections to the House of Representatives and Province Assembly in Myagdi today. Jasamani Kami (107) of Rum, Malika Rural Municipality-2 exercised his franchise from the local Rastriya Secondary School-based polling center (A), according to voting officer Ishwor Bahadur Bhandari. Voting is underway in all 120 polling centers in Myagdi. The number of eligible voters in the district is 86, 000.  

A total of 5,779 security personnel have been mobilized in Kathmandu, the federal capital of the country, in view of the upcoming November 20 parliamentary elections. The security personnel were deployed to make the elections to the House of Representatives (HoR) and Provincial Assembly free, fair and impartial and to conduct it in a peaceful manner in Kathmandu district. The Silence Period has been enforced all over the country since Thursday midnight. Security personnel have been deployed considering the security sensitivity of the polling stations to hold the election peacefully. Superintendent of Police (SP) Dinesh Raj Mainali, Spokesperson at the District Police Range, Kathmandu, said that 2,500 security personnel of Nepal Police and 3,279 temporary police personnel were deployed in 320 polling stations and 757 polling centers in Kathmandu district. According to SP Mainali, the Nepal Police has been conducting regular mobile patrol and police personnel in plain clothes are also monitoring the security situation and compliance or violation of the election code of conduct. Security checks are being conducted in the checkpoints by the Nepal Police. Security checks at night have been tightened with the parliamentary election two days away.