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After the tremor was felt again at Patadewal in Khaptadchanna Rural Municipality-6 of Bajhang on Saturday evening, Nepal Police has been using loudspeakers urging local residents to stay outside their houses. The earthquake that occurred last Tuesday midnight had weakened the houses of the locals and hence the locals were asked to stay outdoors as aftershocks continue to take place, said Sub Inspector Ram Bahadur Bam of Patadewal Police Station. It is a risk to stay inside the same houses after the earthquake on Saturday. Residents in Patadewal, Rajkot, Tiune, Pujarigaon are currently staying outside their homes. Even in ward no. 5 of the same Rural Municipality, locals are sitting outside their houses. Kul Prasad Joshi, a local resident, said that the houses that suffered damage in Tuesday's earthquake were further damaged on Saturday. Meanwhile, residents in the district headquarters Chainpur have spent the night on the ground of the Sudurpaschimanchal Boarding School.  

The election campaigns for the elections to the House of Representatives and the Provincial Assembly have been intensified in Karnali, with only seven days to go for the Election Day. Parties and candidates are intensifying their election campaigns in the lead up to November 20. In all the districts of Karnali, there is likely to be stiff competition between the ruling coalition and the main opposition CPN-UML. In Salyan, the coalition party's common candidate is Prakash Jwala, deputy general secretary of CPN (Unified Socialist) Party, while UML has nominated Rajendra Bir Rai. Based on the results of the local elections, Nepali Congress has 33,616 votes, Maoist 26,713, UML 26,628 and CPN (Unified Socialist) 9,467 votes in Salyan. Jwala, the common candidate of the alliance, is confident of winning in this district, which has 157,701. Having won the elections in the years 2051, 2056, 2070 and 2074, he has maintained a good image in Salyan. UML's candidate Rai claimed that his personality, determination to avoid corruption and the votes of the changed people are the main basis for winning this election. Likewise, Dhan Bahadur Budha, a central member of CPN (Unified Socialist) who is the common candidate on behalf of the coalition in Dolpa, is confident of his victory. Having won the Constituent Assembly in 2070 and the House of Representatives election in 2074, he said that his victory was assured for the third time as well. There are 22, 440 voters in the district. His rival Ganesh Bahadur Shahi of UML said that since people's hopes for UML are increasing and the voters want to see my work, hence I will win. Angat Kumar Budha from Rashtriya Prajatantra Party, Harka Bahadur Thakulla from CPN-Marxist (Pushpalal) and Bir Bahadur Rokaya from Independent are also in the fray for the post of member of the House of Representatives.  

Almost all the political parties are scrambling to woo the electorate in their support ahead of the November 20 elections to the House of Representatives and Province Assembly. They are primarily raising issues related to political stability, good governance, prosperity and law and order in the course of their election campaigns. However, these issues figured in the election agenda of the parties in the last elections as well. The political parties have also included in their election manifestos topics like protection of nationalism, national sovereignty, building a self-reliant economy, increasing employment, infrastructure development, citizenship and issues related to religion and culture. In this connection, the Nepalka Lagi Nepali (Nepalis for Nepal) Party has vociferously raised the issues of banishing corruption and promotion of the 'Prithvipath' and 'Nepalwad'. According to this party, Prithvipath is the principles propounded by King Prithvi Narayan Shah, the unifier of modern Nepal, and Nepalwad is the policy of Nepal first, said the party president Bal Krishna Neupane. Nepalka Lagi Nepali Party's election symbol is the 'conch'. The party has fielded 110 candidates under the first-past-the-post (FPTP) and the proportional electoral system. Moreover, the party has prioritized issues like investigating the assets of persons holding high public posts from the time of Panchayat system till the present, adoption of a directly-elected Prime Minister, restoration of monarchical system and barring the legislators from becoming the government ministers. It has also come up with the agenda of a powerful citizen's ombudsman body for corruption control. Some of the political parties have highlighted issues such as deteriorating economy, external interference in the national affairs, establishing social justice and self-reliance, addressing the problems of women, children and senior citizens, and that of education, health and social security, in their election manifestos. The Nagarik Unmukti Party (Citizen Liberation Party) with its election symbol 'Dhakiya' and led by Ranjita Shrestha has primarily highlighted topics like the nation's development, identity, good governance, prosperity and inclusive identity in its manifesto. This party has fielded 85 candidates towards the House of Representatives and 137 towards the Province Assembly member election. It has been advocating for a directly-elected President or Prime Minister. The Kirant Khumbuwan Sajha Party has fielded only one candidate for the House of Representatives member and 15 candidates towards Province Assembly towards the FPTP system and 15 towards the proportional seats. The party with the election symbol the 'Dhaka Topi' has voiced for naming the Province no 1 as the Kirant Province, smooth supply of drinking water in Dharan, corruption control and addressing the burning problems in the education and health sectors. The party has also advocated for adopting a directly-elected Prime Minister and fully-proportional election system for institutionalization of political stability in the country. The Tamang Shaling Loktantrik Party with the 'Vajra' as its election symbol has fielded one candidate in the House of Representatives and 20 candidates in the Province Assembly, said party chairperson Simang Tamang. The party has been voiced for reforming the election system to make it less costly and pompous and adoption of a fully-proportional election system where the candidates are selected based on the population of the ethnic groups. The Miteri Party Nepal with election symbol 'the Horse' has called for redrawing the new administrative map of the country into five development regions and restoration of constitutional monarchy, said the party president Ghanendra Basnet. Nepal Bibeksheel Party has fielded two candidacies only for House of Representatives Member. The party with election symbol the 'Dog Face' has advocated for extensive reforms in the present form of governance and election system, according to party president Karma Lama. The Mangol National Organisation with its election symbol 'the rooster' is contesting the election to 238 seats for House of Representatives and Province Assembly from 50 districts, shared the party president Buddha Lal Meche. This party's main election agenda is democracy, secularism, federalism and the protection of rights and existence of the indigenous people. The Sanghiya Lokatantrik Rastriya Manch (Federal Democratic National Forum)'s chairperson Kumar Lingden said his party has fielded candidacies in 86 electoral constituencies in six provinces in this election. Federalism with identity, removal of the present minimum vote threshold for parties and empowerment of the provinces are the key issues the party has been advocating for. Its election symbol is 'Khukuri with the Sheath'. The Bahujan Ekata Party Nepal has kept equality, independence, self-respect and prosperity as its top priorities. The party's election symbol is the 'Seven-step Stairs'. It has fielded 34 candidates towards the FPTP and 49 candidates towards the proportional representation system of election. The party is for adopting a governance system where either the President or the Prime Minister is directly elected by the people. It has also been advocating for adopting a fully proportional election system along with reserved quotas for the ethnic groups. It is found that the electorate is also putting forth the same old demands like maintaining law and order, good governance, easing the supply of fertilizer, providing irrigation and expanding road networks, among other demands with the political parties and candidates.

Seven Nepali migrant laborers, who were stranded in Kuwait, have been rescued and brought back home to Nepal. They had gone to the Gulf country on a work visa. It is learnt that the Global Times Kuwait, the company employing them, made them work for 14 hours daily and not given their two months' salary. The stranded workers were brought to Nepal last night at the initiation of Dharma Overseas Pvt Ltd and media person Jeevan Sharma. The rescued and repatriated workers are Bibek Raj Yadav, Ekbal Jolha, Izahar Jolha, Hasan Raj Jolha, Nirmal Nepali, Ganesh Kumal and Bhim Prasad Rajbanshi. The Dharma Overseas stated that the rescued workers have been kept at Pasa Hotel at Chabahil at present. It is said they would be sent home after the job-placement company that sent them to Kuwait returns their money.  

The Election Commission (EC) has made a six-point decision for the political parties to publish and disseminate their election publicity materials for the purpose of the upcoming elections. The elections to the member of House of Representatives and Province Assembly are being held on November 20 in a single phase throughout the country. EC spokesperson Shaligram Sharma Poudel said that a decision has been taken by which the political parties and the candidates can carry out election canvassing on the online media registered with the Department of Information and Broadcasting and enlisted in the Press Council Nepal, remaining under the Election Code of Conduct, 2022. Among the decisions include the one allowing the political parties and candidates to disseminate visual materials related to election campaigning through online media for maximum one minute. Similarly, the political parties can disseminate election publicity materials on the private sector online media by means of 'roadblock', content block, homepage, banner, detailed page banner and box advertisement. However, it should be indicated on the election publicity material that it is paid advertisement. The election publicity material disseminated in this way should not include in it any content that is defamatory to anyone, fake information, mis/dis-information and hate speech. If this type of content is found in the election publicity material, it would be considered in violation of the Election Code of Conduct. The Code of Conduct also bars the dissemination of their election publicity materials by parties and candidates on foreign online media. The political parties and candidates are required to submit to the EC the details of the expenditure while disseminating the election publicity materials through online media including it in their election expenses details. Directive to make polling stations inclusive and disabled-friendly Meanwhile, the EC has issued directives for making the polling stations inclusive and disabled-friendly. It has directed the Chief Election Officer, the Election Officer, Polling Officer and all employees deputed to conduct the election in that connection. The EC has emphasized on the strict adherence to the 'Gender and Inclusion Policy in Election Management, 2077 BS' and the 'House of Representatives and Province Assembly Member Election (Voting) Guidelines, 2079 BS'.

Rastriya Prajatantra Party (RPP) Chairman Rajendra Lingden has urged one and all to take elections to the House of Representatives and Province Assembly seriously as they would be determining the future of the nation and people. He was of the view of taking the elections as an opportunity of liberating the nation from the grip of some limited political parties. In his address to the party’s election gathering in Sindhupalchowk today, the leader urged voters to support the party in the voting for the twin elections scheduled to take place simultaneously on coming November 20.  As he claimed, the party is capable of addressing the people’s needs for change and development. Also speaking on the occasion, RPP former Chair Pashupati Shamser Rana requested voters to give the party an opportunity to lead the nation. As he said, time demands people to warn for the building of a future of the nation by sending ‘qualified’ representatives to the parliament.

The government has been advised to develop a separate committee to deal with arrears issues and find an effective way for its settlement and for an improvement in the public finance management system. According to a study report prepared by the National Planning Commission, the government requires a separate body to address overdue issues. The NPC in the report entitled ‘study report about the situation of public auditing and settlement of arrears in Nepal, 2079 BS' proposed that the government should have a separate body for looking after the arrears issues. The 59th annual report of the Auditor General, 2079 BS puts the arrears till the fiscal 2077-78 BS (2020-21) at over Rs 829 billion.  As the report cites, the overdue in the given fiscal date alone was increased by Rs over 115 billion. The document mentions about the lack of enough discussions on the report of the Auditor General in a parliamentary committee, indicating the need for making the account officer more responsible for arrears management and increasing the effectiveness of monitoring and supervision in the relevant sector. According to Commission Spokesperson, Rajendra Kumar Poudel, the size of arrears is increasing in the recent years and its impacts are visible in the public finance management, prompting the urgent need to control it in time. The report points out issues in the plans and policies since their formulation as one of the leading causes for the increasing figure of arrears. It insists the need for identification and pre-preparations before incorporating plans and policies in the budget, stating that coordination and consonance among the periodic plans, government policies and programmes and the budget were missing and it caused challenges to the arrears management. The lack of fiscal discipline, the agreement for multi-year projects without permission, and the lack of effective monitoring and supervision are among other factors fueling the problem, it has been said.

European Union Ambassador to Nepal Nona Deprez held a meeting with Chief Election Commissioner Dinesh Kumar Thapaliya on Thursday. During the meeting held at Election Commission's office at Kantipath, the duo discussed various issues including November 20 elections to the House of Representatives and Province Assembly and bilateral concern.