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Forest, Environment and Land Conservation Minister of Province 1 Shekhar Chandra Thapa passed away on Wednesday. Thapa was a Nepali Congress Province Assembly candidate from Morang constituency-3. He was a Nepali Congress Province-1 member. He breathed his last during the course of treatment at the Biratnagar-based Nobel Hospital at 10: 40 am today. The NC leader was receiving treatment at room no. 11 of Neuro Ward of the hospital. Thapa (58), a permanent resident of Shakhara, Patharisanischare Municipality-8, was diagnosed with dengue on October 10. He was airlifted to Kathmandu for treatment on October 13 after his health deteriorated. It has been learnt that he was also suffering from a serious kind of pneumonia. Thapa was brought to Biratnagar following improvement in his health, 25 days after undergoing treatment at the HAMS Hospital in Kathmandu. Narayan Dahal, an official at the Nobel Hospital, said that Thapa died while receiving treatment at the hospital this morning.

Some media are found disseminating biased news in favor of a single party or candidate as the day of election draws closer. It is said a single media outlet is disseminating news of the same party or candidate frequently. These media were found not giving space to other parties or candidates. This fact was found from an election special monitoring carried out by the Press Council Nepal (PCN) in connection with the compliance of the election code of conduct by the mass communication media in the context of the November 20 elections to the House of Representatives and Province Assembly. PCN had started the media monitoring since October 14 to check whether the mass communication media were abiding by the election code of conduct or not. The code of conduct came into effect nationally from September 27. The PCN's monitoring also found that materials including articles likely to cause harm to the candidate of a particular party were disseminated by the media. It is found the media selected for the monitoring were disseminating news and articles stating that a particular candidate has 'high chances' of election victory in a certain constituency and they also 'boosted up' in the social sites news related to a certain candidate. A trend of the media presenting a candidate of a particular party as 'weak' while exaggerating another candidate was also found in course of the monitoring. PCN has taken action against 28 media on the basis of the seriousness of the violation of the code by them and based on the facts and data collected in course of monitoring. The Press Council has sought clarification from a radio, a television, a newspaper and seven online news portals in this connection. The PCN has also banned two online portals from publishing and broadcasting within Nepal. Likewise, it has called attention of five online portals, reprimanded five online, a television and two newspapers and directed two online news portals to abide by the journalists’ code of ethics and the election code of conduct, PCN's Information Officer Ram Sharan Bohara said. PCN had selected a total 225 sample media including 68 newspapers, 88 online portals, 37 radio and 12 televisions for the purpose of the monitoring. It carried out monitoring on the media trend as well.

The senior most candidate in the November 20 election to the member of House of Representatives, the lower house of the federal parliament, Tika Datta Pokharel has asserted that his candidacy is for protecting the country, preserving democracy and maintaining Nepal as the Hindu nation. Pokharel celebrated his 100th birthday on October 31. The senior citizen from Siranchok Rural Municipality-2, Gorkha district expressed his confidence that he would be victorious in the polls with majority votes and the overwhelming support of the people of Gorkha. "The voters of Gorkha carrying with it the identity of the land of the brave Gorkhalis who spearheaded the national unification campaign will give their vote to a senior citizen and a democrat over 100 years of age and create new history in this election. Thus my name will be recorded in the history as the senior most parliamentarian of the country," Pokharel said. He added that only a Gorkhali born in Gorkha would work for the welfare of the people of the district and also preserve the 'glorious' history of Gorkha. Pokharel said that he was contesting in this parliamentary election to protect the country and democracy and to create an environment in the country wherein the sons and daughters of the Nepalis will get employment within the country itself and will not have to toil in foreign land for livelihood. Describing Gorkha as his motherland and the place where he lived and worked his entire life, Pokharel said the people of Gorkha were campaigning in his support with the goal of making a 'son of land of Gorkha and the oldest candidate who is well-known to the people victorious in the election'. He claimed that his victory was guaranteed. Stating that the country is not anyone's dominion per se, the centenarian election candidate said the Gorkhalis should thoroughly evaluate how much and what works the candidate from the ruling alliance in the district has done for the district and its people. He believed that the 'educated and conscious' Gorkhali people will deliver their verdict on November 20 by means of their votes. He narrated that he had been jailed at various times in Birgunj and Raxaul in India while participating in the movement against the Rana oligarchy before 2007 BS. Pokharel also recalled that he spent about six years in jail in Gorkha and Lamjung in the course of opposing the Panchayati system. "My candidacy is for building a prosperous nation, a robust democracy and for establishing Nepal as a Hindu nation," said Pokharel who is contesting in the election from Gorkha constituency number 2 on behalf of the Nepali Congress (BP) party. His election symbol is 'Kalash', an urn. He is facing 11 contenders, including CPN (Maoist Centre) chairperson and former Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal 'Prachanda' and Abdus Miyan from the CPN (UML). Dahal is the common candidate from the ruling alliance in this constituency.

CPN (Unified Socialist) leader Birodh Khatiwada has been assaulted in Makwanpur on Tuesday. He is a candidate for the election to the House of Representatives from Makwanpur-2. DSP Tek Bahadur Karki said that Purushottam Khadka (50) assaulted him while he was preparing to head towards the stage to take part in an election assembly at Masine in Manahari Rural Municipality-4 of the district. Khadka told the police that he slapped Khatiwada soon after he stepped down from the vehicle. The Area Police Office, Newarpani took him under control after the incident and sent to the District Police Office, Makwanpur. He will be charged with misbehaving the candidate, police said.