Leaders commit to abide by election code of conduct
Representatives of the political parties have expressed their commitment to fully abide by the election code of conduct.
The Election Commission had summoned the representatives of the parties registered with the poll body on Tuesday.
The Commission urged the representatives of the political parties not to violate the election code of conduct.
At least 79 parties have been registered at the Election Commission. The Election Commission has already issued the election code of conduct.
Nepali Congress Vice-President Purna Bahadur Khadka on behalf of his party expressed his commitment to fully adhere to the election code of conduct issued by the Election Commission.
Beduram Bhusal, General Secretary of the CPN (Unified Socialist), said that his party would effectively implement the poll code.
EC starts printing ballot papers for local level elections
The Election Commission (EC) has started printing ballot papers for the local level elections slated for May 13.
In a routine press meet organized by the EC here on Monday, spokesperson Shaligram Sharma shared that the Janak Education Materials Centre, Bhaktapur has been printing the ballot papers.
According to Sharma, a total of 1,940,000 ballot papers of 77 types and 23 rows will be printed for the upcoming local level elections. He informed that ballot papersof 56 rows will be printed for the Kathmandu district while 16 rows will be printed for Dolpa.
The Commission has already printed 180,000 sets of sample ballot papers to facilitate the political parties in the election campaigns and for voter education.
The voter list can be obtained from the Commission paying Rs 7,000 for a nationwide voter list and a province-level voter list for Rs 5,000. The official letter from the political party is mandatory to obtain the voter list.
Similarly, the voter list of the district could be gained for Rs 3,000, Rs 1,000 for municipality level and Rs 500 for ward level. The official letter from a political party or candidate vying in the election is mandatory to get an electronic copy of the voter list.
The Commission said that it has already implemented directives relating to voter education, election training, and vote counting among others. RSS
Ruling coalition forms committee under Paudel to prepare and monitor local polls
The ruling coalition has formed a committee under the headship of Nepali Congress senior leader Ram Chandra Paudel to prepare and monitor the local level elections.
A meeting of the coalition held on Tuesday formed a committee under the leadership of Paudel to prepare and monitor the civic polls scheduled for May 13, CPN (Maoist Centre) Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal’s press coordinator Surya Kiran Sharma said.
He said that Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba briefed the ruling coalition parties on the achievements of his three-day official visit to India.
The prime minister claimed that his visit to India has further strengthened the relationship between the two countries.
The meeting concluded that the head of the government’s visit to India had become successful.
Prime Minister and Nepali Congress President Sher Bahadur Deuba, CPN (Maoist Centre) Chairman Pushap Kamal Dahal, Janata Samajbadi Federal Council Chairman Baburam Bhattarai, CPN (Unified Socialist) Chairman Madhav Kumar Nepal and Nepali Congress senior leader Ram Chandra Paudel among other leaders were present in the meeting.
Zelenskyy to address UN amid outrage over civilian deaths
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy planned to speak Tuesday to UN Security Council diplomats outraged by growing evidence that Russian forces have deliberated killed civilians, many of them shot in yards, streets and homes, and their bodies left in the open, Associated Press reported.
The withdrawal of Russian troops from towns around Ukraine’s capital revealed the corpses, which led to calls for tougher sanctions against the Kremlin, especially a cutoff of fuel imports from Russia. Germany and France reacted by expelling dozens of Russian diplomats, suggesting they were spies. US President Joe Biden said Russian leader Vladimir Putin should be tried for war crimes.
“This guy is brutal, and what’s happening in Bucha is outrageous,” Biden said, referring to the town northwest of the capital that was the scene of some of the horrors.
The discovery of bodies in Bucha was expected to be “front and center” at the Security Council session, said Barbara Woodward, the UN ambassador for the United Kingdom, which currently holds the council presidency.
Associated Press journalists in Bucha counted dozens of corpses in civilian clothes and apparently without weapons, many shot at close range, and some with their hands bound or their flesh burned, according to Associated Press.
After touring neighborhoods of Bucha and speaking to hungry survivors lining up for bread, Zelenskyy pledged in a video address that Ukraine would work with the European Union and the International Criminal Court to identify Russian fighters involved in any atrocities.
“The time will come when every Russian will learn the whole truth about who among their fellow citizens killed, who gave orders, who turned a blind eye to the murders,” he said.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov dismissed the scenes outside Kyiv as a “stage-managed anti-Russian provocation.” Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said the images contained “signs of video forgery and various fakes.”
Russia has similarly rejected previous allegations of atrocities as fabrications on Ukraine’s part, Associated Press reported.
