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The Election Commission has appealed to the private sector to grant a holiday on May 13.

Saying that all the people have the right to ensure their vote, the poll body urged to the private sector to grant a holiday on Election Day.

Similarly, the Commission has directed the parties and candidates to stop election campaigning during the silence period starting tomorrow.

Likewise, the EC urged the telecom companies  not to provide any SMS service for the campaigning.

Meanwhile, the Commission directed the chairman of Gorkhapatra National Daily and office bearers of Land Commission to furnish clarification within three days for violating the election code of conduct.

The Election Commission has sought clarification from five journalists for violating the election code of conduct.

The journalists have been asked to submit their response within 24 hours.

The EC has asked clarification from Chairman of Nepal Press Union Badri Sigdel, Chairman of Press Centre Nepal Bishnu Sapkota, Chairman of Socialist Press Organisation Shambhu Shrestha, Chairman of Press Forum Nepal Keshav Aryal and Secretary of Progressive Journalists' Association Shyamlal Pokharel.

The EC stated that an appeal to the voters made by the five journalists asking vote for the candidates of the five-party left-democratic alliance was against the Election Code of Conduct, 2021.

Clause 22 of the Election Code of Conduct, 2021 has stated that journalists and employees working in media houses should not publish and broadcast news in favour of and against any candidate.

Voting has begun in the Philippines, as millions head to the polls today to choose their next president, BBC reported.

The man tipped to win the presidency is Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr, the son of the nation's former dictator. 

If polls suggesting a landslide victory pan out, it will mean the powerful Marcos political dynasty, will sweep back into office.

His closest rival is Leni Rebredo who beat Mr Marcos in the 2016 vice-presidential elections. 

Thousands of other roles will also be up for grabs in the general election, including senator posts and seats in the House of Representatives, according to BBC.

A high turnout is expected of the nation's eligible 67 million voters - many of whom are young people.

Whoever wins will take over from Rodrigo Duterte, the outspoken leader who's come to the end of his constitutionally-enforced six year term in office.

Mr Duterte's government has been criticised for its brutality in cracking down on drugs and crime, though the administration has always rejected allegations of wrongdoing, BBC reported.

Who are the candidates?

Bongbong, 64, is the son of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos whose rule over the Philippines lasted for 21 years. 

Mr Marcos's rule saw him declare martial law and take control of the country's courts, businesses and media. The army and police arrested and tortured thousands of dissidents.

He, his wife Imelda Marcos - who is infamous for her vast designer wardrobe - along with their cronies, plundered an estimated $10bn from public funds. He was forced out of power in 1986 and died soon afterwards.

After his family was allowed back into the country in the 1990s, Bongbong carved out political footholds, becoming a province governor, congressman and senator.

In 2016 he ran for vice-president allied with President Duterte, but lost to Leni Robredo - his main challenger in this contest.

Ms Robredo is a human rights lawyer and liberal legislator who has consistently led campaigns against Duterte's drugs violence and gender inequality. 

She has vowed to tackle corruption, with her campaign slogan being: "Honest government, a better life for all".

More than 60 people were feared dead Sunday after a Russian bomb flattened a school being used as a shelter, Ukrainian officials said, while Moscow’s forces pressed their attack on defenders inside Mariupol’s steel plant in an apparent race to capture the city ahead of Russia’s Victory Day holiday, Associated Press reported.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said he was “appalled” by the reported school bombing Saturday in the eastern village of Bilohorivka and called it another reminder that “it is civilians that pay the highest price” in war.

Authorities said about 90 people were sheltering in the basement. Emergency crews found two bodies and rescued 30 people, but “most likely all 60 people who remain under the rubble are now dead,” Serhiy Haidai, governor of Luhansk province, wrote on the Telegram messaging app.

Russian shelling also killed two boys, ages 11 and 14, in the nearby town of Pryvillia, he said. Luhansk is part of the Donbas, the industrial heartland in the east that Russia’s forces are working to capture.

As Moscow prepared to celebrate the 1945 surrender of Nazi Germany with a Victory Day military parade on Monday, a lineup of Western leaders and celebrities made surprise visits to Ukraine in a show of support. 

US first lady Jill Biden met with her Ukrainian counterpart. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau raised his country’s flag at its embassy in Kyiv. And U2′s Bono, alongside bandmate The Edge, performed in a Kyiv subway station that had been used as a bomb shelter, singing the 1960s song “Stand by Me.”

The acting US ambassador to Ukraine, Kristina Kvien, posted a picture of herself at the American Embassy, and described plans for the eventual US return to the Ukrainian capital after Moscow’s forces abandoned their effort to storm Kyiv weeks ago and began focusing on the capture of the Donbas, according to the Associated Press.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and others warned in recent days that Russian attacks would only worsen in the lead-up to Victory Day, and some cities declared curfews or cautioned people against gathering in public. Russian President Vladimir Putin may want to proclaim some kind of triumph in Ukraine when he addresses the troops on Red Square.

“They have nothing to celebrate tomorrow,” Linda Thomas-Greenfield, US ambassador to the United Nations, told CNN. “They have not succeeded in defeating the Ukrainians. They have not succeeded in dividing the world or dividing NATO. And they have only succeeded in isolating themselves internationally and becoming a pariah state around the globe.”

Russian forces struggled to complete their takeover of Mariupol, which has been largely reduced to rubble. The sprawling seaside steel mill where an estimated 2,000 Ukrainian fighters were making what appeared to be their last stand was the only part of the city not under Russian control. 

The last of the women, children and older civilians who were taking shelter with the fighters in the Azovstal plant were evacuated Saturday. Buses carrying over 170 evacuees from the steelworks and other parts of Mariupol arrived in the Ukrainian-held city of Zaporizhzhia on Sunday, UN officials said, Associated Press reported.

The Ukrainian defenders in the steel mill have rejected deadlines set by the Russians for laying down their arms.

Capt. Sviatoslav Palamar, deputy commander of the Ukrainian Azov Regiment, a unit holding the steel mill, said the site was targeted overnight by warplanes, artillery and tanks.

“We are under constant shelling,” he said online, adding that Russian ground troops tried to storm the plant — a claim Russian officials denied in recent days — and lay mines. Palamar reported a “multitude of casualties.”

Lt. Illya Samoilenko, another member of the Azov Regiment, said there were a couple of hundred wounded soldiers at the plant but declined to reveal how many able-bodied fighters remained. He said fighters didn’t have lifesaving equipment and had to dig by hand to free people from bunkers that had collapsed under the shelling.

“Surrender for us is unacceptable because we cannot grant such a gift to the enemy,” Samoilenko said.

The Ukrainian government has reached out to international organizations to try to secure safe passage for the defenders, according to the Associated Press.