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The Central Committee meeting of the Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) has approved the unification agreement of RSP and Kathmandu Metropolitan City Mayor Balendra Shah.

A meeting of the RSP Central Committee held last night endorsed the agreement forged between the RSP and Mayor Shah, RSP general secretary Kabindra Burlakoti said.

The meeting has also decided to work for good governance, prosperity, democracy and social justice through the implementation of the deal, which the party has termed a 'huge courage, sacrifice and reflection of hope' for national interests.

Earlier in the wee hours of Sunday, the RSP and Mayor Shah reached a seven-point agreement on various issues in the lead up to the March 5 elections to the House of Representatives.

The agreement was reached and signed by RSP President Rabi Lamichhane and Mayor Shah.

According to the agreement, the movement against corruption and ill governance waged by the youths shall be owned, and the demands of the injured and martyred families will be appropriately addressed.

The Election Commission has sanctioned the Election Code of Conduct 2082 BS, which will be implemented for the forthcoming House of Representatives elections slated for March 5. 

The code of conduct, which was published on the Commission's website today, is set to take effect in the first week of Magh (Mid-January). 

To ensure that the elections are clean, free, fearless, respectful, and credible, the Commission has revised certain aspects of the previous code. 

The approval of this code followed the incorporation of suggestions received on the draft. 

According to Narayan Prasad Bhattarai, the spokesperson for the Commission, the code will be applicable to the Government of Nepal and its Ministers, Provincial Governments and their Ministers, constitutional bodies and officeholders, as well as bodies and officials under the Government of Nepal or Provincial Governments, local executives and their members, and employees at federal, provincial, and local levels. 

This code of conduct for elections will extend to the Government of Nepal and its Ministers, provincial governments and their Ministers, constitutional bodies and officials, agencies of the Government of Nepal or provincial governments and their officials, local executive bodies and their members, along with employees of the federal, provincial, and local levels. 

It will also encompass security agencies, security personnel and employees, offices and employees of government, and public institutions, political parties and their affiliated organizations, candidates and related individuals, election representatives and vote counting representatives of political parties and candidates, as well as individuals holding public office, as mandated by the Commission. 

Such a code of conduct is established prior to each election to guarantee cleanliness, fairness, transparency, and a fear-free environment during the elections.

Nepali Congress has urged National Assembly Chairman  Narayan Prasad Dahal to immediately call a session of the upper house of the Federal Parliament. 

A team led by the Nepali Congress National Assembly Chief Whip Krishna Bahadur Rokaya today called on Chairman Dahal to inform him about the decision of the Congress Parliamentary Party and made this request.

National Assembly members Kamala Devi Pant, Kiran Babu Shrestha, Bishnu Sapkota and Padam Pariyar, among others, participated in the meeting.

Nepali Congress Parliamentary Party meeting held on December 25 had decided to urge the National Assembly Chair Dahal  to convene a session, stating that the House of Representatives, the lower house, was dissolved unconstitutionally amid the changed political situation in the country.

The party has demanded the immediate convening of a National Assembly session, saying such a meeting is necessary because the Assembly is the only active body within the sovereign federal parliament that represents the voice of the people.

The political parties contesting in the March 5 elections to the House of Representatives are required to submit their respective proportional representation (PR) list of candidates by today and tomorrow.

The Election Commission has stated that all preparations have been completed for the schedule for political parties to submit closed lists for the proportional election system.

The parties will have to submit their closed lists for the proportional election system to the Commission today and tomorrow, Spokesperson Narayan Prasad Bhattarai said. 

He said that the closed lists for the proportional election system submitted by the parties on December 28 and 29 will be validated from January 4.

Following the validation, the Commission will ask the parties to reconcile, if any, of the lists from January 5 to 11. Spokesperson Bhattarai said that the final list will be published on February 3.

A total of 100 political parties have registered to participate in the proportional representation (PR) election. 

Only political parties that have registered will be allowed to submit their lists of candidates for the closed list today and tomorrow.