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Chief Election Commissioner Dinesh Thapaliya hinted that the elections to the House of Representatives and Provincial Assembly will be held on November 20.

During a press conference organized by the Election Commission on Tuesday, he said that it would not be surprising if the next meeting of the Cabinet announced the date of November 20 for the elections.

He said that the expenses may increase in the elections.

Saying that the poll body had printed 20 billion ballot papers for the local level elections, Thapaliya said that 80 million ballot papers should be printed for the upcoming elections.

The Chief Election Commissioner said that the Election Commission has already started internal preparations for the elections.

Congress interim president Sonia Gandhi on Tuesday went to the office of the Enforcement Directorate in Delhi for the second round of questioning in connection with the National Herald-money laundering case, Hindustan Times reported.

As part of the planned protest, Congress MPs marched from the Gandhi Statue on the Parliament premises towards Vijay Chowk. Several of them, including Rahul Gandhi, Mallikarjun Kharge, Ranjeet Ranjan, KC Venugopal, Manickam Tagore, Imran Pratapgarhi and K Suresh were detained during the march.

Before being detained, Rahul said discussions are not allowed inside Parliament, while MPs are arrested out for protesting. “All (Congress) MPs came here. They talked about inflation, unemployment. They (Police) are not allowing us to sit here. Discussions are not allowed inside (the Parliament) and here they are arresting us,” the Wayanad MP was quoted as saying by news agency ANI.

The Congress leadership has planned a ‘satyagrahs’ (peaceful protests) across the national capital and elsewhere in protest against the interrogation. The Delhi Police has denied the party permission to agitate at the Raj Ghat and imposed Section 144 of the Criminal Procedure Code in the area.

Earlier, Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra accompanied their mother to the ED office. Rahul Gandhi has been questioned extensively in the same case recently.

Congress MPs met at the office of Leader of Opposition Mallikarjun Kharge on Parliament premises and are likely to stage a march towards the ED office to protest against the questioning.

Workers of the All India Mahila Congress have begun their stir outside the party headquarters in Delhi.

Karnataka Congress chief DK Shivakumar said the central is trying to harass Opposition leaders and his party will fight against it. “They’re trying to harass Opposition leaders, we’ll fight it. We’re with Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi. You can’t harass us anymore.”

Gandhi was earlier questioned for a few hours on Thursday last week and Congress leaders had staged a protest across the country. Party MPs had also courted arrest in Delhi against her questioning, according to Hindustan Times.

The ED probe relates to alleged financial irregularities in the Congress-promoted Young Indian Private Limited, which owns the National Herald newspaper.

President Bidya Devi Bhandari has appointed ambassadors of Nepal to various countries in accordance with Article 282 (1) of the Constitution of Nepal and on the recommendation of the Council of Ministers.

President Bhandari has appointed Dr Sharmila Parajuli (Dhakal) the resident ambassador to Spain, Milan Raj Tuladhar the resident ambassador to the Russian Federation, Prof Dr Ram Swartha Raya the resident ambassador to Denmark and Dr Shankar Prasad Sharma, the resident ambassador to India, as the non-resident ambassador to Bhutan also, read a statement issued by the Office of the President, Sheetal Niwas today.

Nepal will be receiving a grant assistance of Japanese yen 376 million (approximately equivalent to Rs 350 million) from Japan for implementation of the Project for Human Resource Development (JDS) Project in the year 2022/23.

The both parties signed and exchanged the notes to this regard amidst a program at the Ministry of Finance today.

Madhu Kumar Marasini, Finance Secretary and Tamura Takahiro, Charge d’affaires ad interim of Japan to Nepal signed the documents on behalf of their respective Governments.

On the same occasion, grant agreement to this effect was signed by joint-secretary Ishwori Prasad Aryal of International Economic Cooperation Coordination Division, Ministry of Finance and Tanaka Tomoko, Senior Representative, JICA Nepal, the Ministry of Finance said in a press release today.

The Government of Japan has been providing such scholarship grant to the Government of Nepal in a phase-wise manner. Under the first phase of the project, 80 civil servants have already completed their Master’s Degree and returned home.

This grant will be utilized to administer the scholarship program, including for payment of the university tuition fee, living allowances, settlement allowances, insurances and other basic allowances as well as supply of educational materials for 22 candidates (20 for Master’s degree and 2 for PhD degree) to pursue their degrees in various Japanese Universities.

The scholarship provides opportunity of pursuing two years’ Master’s degree and three years PhD courses to young Nepalese civil servants who are academically sound and are motivated to be engaged in Nepal’s socio economic development after completion of their study in Japan.

During the signing ceremony, Finance Secretary Marasini expressed his hope that this scholarship would be instrumental in developing the capacity of civil service. He further stated that the knowledge, skills and the exposure acquired by the civil servants will be instrumental in improving the delivery of public services in Nepal and ultimately contribute to the socio-economic development of Nepal as well as in strengthening the bilateral relation between the two countries.

Similarly, Tamura expected that the JDS graduates will significantly contribute to Nepal’s socio economic development as well as towards further strengthening the long standing bilateral relationship and cooperation between the two countries.

The Government of Nepal expressed its sincere appreciation to the Government of Japan for its generous and continued support to socioeconomic and human resource development of Nepal.