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The Election Commission (EC) has sought clarification from the election candidates and political parties for violation of the election code of conduct.

The candidates and political parties sought clarification are Januka Pathak (Shova Pathak) of the Jana Sewa Party, same party candidate Kamal Bhusal (Dr Nicholas), and the Shram Sanskriti Party. 

Pathak violated election code by spreading hate speech and Sanskriti Party by using children in election campaigns- donning them in t-shirts with party logo and flags.

Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) candidate Balendra Shah was sought clarification over his social media response to a post by UML chairman relating to public debate.

Even some institutions and schools are asked why they violated election code. 

Various provisions of the Election Code were drawn for seeking clarification.

The District Administration Office, Dhanusha has designated 194 polling stations in the district as highly sensitive.

According to the DAO, out of the 322 polling stations in the district, 194 are classified as highly sensitive, 106 as sensitive, and 22 as normal. There are 645 voting centers in the district.

The polling stations have been categorized into the three categories in terms of election security after an assessment of the open border, increased voters, and various problems that arose during the election years in past elections have, according to the Chief District Officer Prem Prasad Luintel.

He stated that 10 to 12 security personnel will be deployed at each polling center. Under the leadership of the Chief District Officer, all security chiefs participated in the monitoring of highly sensitive polling stations today as well.

CDO Luintel said that monitoring of polling stations close to the Nepal-India border is underway.

The Madhes Province Election Office said that there are 514,571 voters in four constituencies of Dhanusha. Among them, 276,126 are male, 238,435 are female, and 10 are voters from gender and sexual minorities (other).

Six thousand five hundred staff will be deployed for the election purpose and details of the deployed staff are being collected. For the House of Representatives election in Dhanusha, there are four constituencies with 142 candidates: 34 in constituency no. 2, 45 in constituency no. 3 and 37 in constituency no. 4.

Prime Minister Sushila Karki said that religious belief and cultural heritages should not be affected while carrying out development construction including road infrastructure.

In the course of inspecting Kathmandu-Tarai/Madhes fast track, the national pride project, today, the Prime Minister directed the bodies concerned to find a solution after taking the concerns of locals seriously.

She mentioned, "The concerns of the locals should be taken seriously and find solutions to them. The demarcation along the section as well as zero point should also be changed if needed. We should forward development construction without hurting their faith."  

The Prime Minister also suggested making arrangements of necessary vacant places while constructing physical structures. 

"Open space is needed during natural disasters. It is also required for people's movement, festivals, fairs, and gatherings. Therefore, we should abandon the idea of building any structure after seeing an open space. We should plan and build structure by leaving open space," she argued.

The Prime Minister's team comprises the Minister for Physical Infrastructure and Transport, the Minister for Foreign Affairs and the secretaries of different ministries, among other officials.

Previously, Chief of the Army Staff Ashok Raj Sigdel and project chief Major General Dharmendra Jha had informed Prime Minister Karki about the project's progress so far and related challenges.

There was a slight delay in starting the project as the detailed project report (DPR) of this road under construction under the management of the Nepal Army took time to be approved.

The physical progress of the expressway project, which has a total length of 70.977 km, has currently reached around 45 percent.

Under the expressway, more than 87 bridges will need to be constructed. Among them, some are of a specific type and up to 82 meters tall. 

As these bridges have also reached the final stage of construction, the Army has stated that the project will be completed within the scheduled date of Chaitra-end 2083 BS and within the initial estimated cost of Rs 213 billion.

This will be a short-distance highway connecting Kathmandu Valley directly with the central Tarai region.

After the construction of the expressway, it is expected that transportation of goods from the Tarai to Kathmandu will significantly reduce costs and time, and contribute considerably to the country's economic development.

There are seven tunnels under the project. 

The Army has stated that it is making special efforts to accomplish the tasks according to the project's objectives.

The printing of the ballot papers for the proportional representation (PR) electoral system for the forthcoming House of Representatives (HoR) polls has been completed, the Election Commission (EC) said.  

The EC stated that a total of 20,850,000 ballot papers were printed on Monday at Janak Education Materials Center Limited, Sanothimi, Bhaktapur.

Managing Director of Janak Education Materials Center Limited, Yadunath Paudel, said that printing of the ballot papers for the first past the post electoral system will begin after the completion of the ballot papers for the PR system. 

The Center has already sent almost 1.1 million ballot papers to the EC as samples, which will be used for voter awareness and other related purposes.