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CPN (Maoist Center) Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal said the alliance forged among the ruling parties for the local elections slated for May 13 would secure a win.

Talking to media persons briefly at Bharatpur Airport on Thursday, the former Prime Minister said any eligible citizen was free to file an independent candidacy in the elections and the results will be relied on the people’s choice.

It may be noted that party central member and Dahal’s daughter Renu Dahal is the mayoral candidate of Bharatpur Metropolitan City on behalf of the alliance which is organising an election mass meeting here today. Renu will be competing for the post for her second term.

Prime Minister and major ruling Nepali Congress (NC) President Sher Bahadur Deuba and senior leader Ramchandra Poudel have already been in the town to address the election gathering.

The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) is to monitor the local level elections slated for May 13.

Speaking at a press meet organized by the NHRC in view of the upcoming local polls, Commission Chair Tapa Bahadur Magar said that the election procedures would be monitored from the human rights perspective. For this purpose, a high-level monitoring team is to be mobilized in each province.

The observation will cover pre and post-election atmosphere as well.

According to the NHRC, member Dr Surya Dhungel and his team will be in the Madhesh Province, member Mihir Thakur’s team will reach the Gandaki Province, member Manoj Duwadi will be mobilised for the Sudur Paschim Province and a team of member Lily Thapa will visit the Province 1 for the monitoring.

Prior to this, the NHRC teams had been in 30 districts for the observation of election nomination registration procedures on April 24-25.

The Commission’s 47 monitoring teams will monitor the human rights situation reaching voting booths in the 77 districts. The central office too will set up the monitoring control room for monitoring the situation, Chair Magar said.

The Commission shall monitor whether the senior citizens, people observing the death rituals, pregnant women and the disabled have easy access or not, whether the voting booths have proper arrangements, the security management, mobilization and management of security at the voting booths, the voter education, whether children have been used in the election publicity, the abidance by the code and the possible violence during the election campaigning.

Likewise, the monitoring will also be carried out from the perspective of the protection and promotion of human rights in terms of the impartiality of the election, its confidentiality, women participation, management of food and accommodation of the security personnel and employees deputed on election duty, the security arrangement of the vote counting station, the condition of use of information procedure related to the vote counting, the presence of security personnel and election observer organisations at the vote counting station, whether the victory rally was peaceful or not and whether the rest of the parties protested or created obstructions, among others.

Chair Magar said that monitoring carried out prior to the election shows that the government has made preparations for peace and security, the election officers have organized the all-party meeting, the political parties have committed to abiding by the election code of conduct and that the nomination process has been done in a peaceful and enthusiastic manner barring sporadic incidents and disputes sometimes.

Political parties in Bhaktapur district have been found violating the election code of conduct for the local elections slated for May 13.

This information was shared at a media interaction organised here today jointly by the District Administration Office and the District Election Office.

"In one case, police were mobilised to stop the distribution of essentials by election campaigners in a bid to influence voters," shared Chief District Officer Rudra Devi Sharma on the occasion.

"Poll campaigners were found to be distributing blankets and flasks in Suryabinayak and Changunarayan municipalities in a bid to influence voters. Acting on a complaint, police were sent to the area immediately to intervene against the unethical act," she said, adding that some 20 award distribution programs seeking permission were also prevented in view of the possibility of influencing the election. They have been asked to organize the program after completion of the poll, she said.

Metropolitan Police Range Bhaktapur, Superintendent of Police Shiva Kumar Shrestha said major political parties were found to be violating the election code of conduct. He shared that election publicity materials displayed at 19 locations breaching the code of conduct were removed.

Representatives of the District Administration Office and the Election Officer said political parties in the district were found to be indulging against the code of conduct. They have been accused of trying to woo the electorates with gifts.

According to SP Shrestha, big political parties have defied the order to remove poll publicity materials placed in various areas in violation of the code of conduct. "Political parties are expected to contribute to the enforcement of the code of conduct, but the scenario is quite different here," he said.

Chief Judge of Bhaktapur District Court Gopal Prasad Banstola, who is also the Chief Election Officer in the district, said they were overwhelmed by election-related work as the number of employees deputed for election work this time around was half the figure compared to the last election.

Stating that employees have been working from 7:00am to 7:00pm on a daily basis, he said there was a dearth of employees to carry out monitoring.

"We have been carrying out indirect monitoring while inspecting this area. We have tried our level best to stop the code violation. The parties should voluntarily follow the code of conduct which they had prepared themselves. We request political parties, journalists and conscious citizens to provide us information about the violation of the election code of conduct. We will immediately stop such activities if it violates the code, " he said. He also vowed to take action if anyone was found guilty of the offence.

Banstola, however, claimed that there were negligible instances of code violation in Bhaktapur compared to Kathmandu.

He added that they were also trying their best to stop such violations.

The chief election officer informed that the work of installing CC cameras at vote counting stations was under way. Chief of the District Election Office Narendra Prasad Neupane had briefed the district-based journalists about the code of conduct.

On the occasion, President of Working Journalists Forum, Bhaktapur and RSS reporter Ramesh Giri called for facilitating news collection and managing vehicle passes for journalists and mediapersons on Election Day.

A suspicious object has been found near the house of a candidate in Sundarharaicha of Morang on Thursday.

DSP Deepak Shrestha, spokesperson at the District Police Office, Morang said that a pressure cooker wrapped with wires was found near the house of ward member candidate in Sukrabare, Sundarharaicha Municipality-11.

Dhakal had filed candidacy for the post of ward member from the CPN-UML.

Police said that they have found a leaflet from the incident site urging people to take part in the elections.

A bomb disposal team from the Nepal Army has been heading towards the incident site, it has been learnt.

Further investigation into the incident is underway.