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The Election Code of Conduct, 2082 BS, which was brought in force since January 18 for the elections to the National Assembly (NA) and House of Representatives (HoR), would be deactivated from midnight today, the Election Commission (EC) said.

EC Spokesperson Narayan Prasad Bhattarai stated that the EC took such a decision today. 

The Election Code of Conduct was brought into implementation as per the Election Commission Act, 2073 BS and Election Code of Conduct, 2082 BS aimed at conducting the elections in a free, fair and fearless manner.

Issuing a statement today, the EC said that the election code of conduct would remain deactivated from midnight today.

The Ministry of Health and Population (MoHP) has urged the public to exercise precautions to protect themselves from increasing air pollution in the Kathmandu Valley as well as other major cities across the country.

The Ministry made the appeal in light of the rising air pollution level in the Kathmandu Valley and other places.

Ministry Spokesperson Dr Prakash Budhathoki warned that the air pollution could lead to various health problems affecting the heart, blood vessels, lungs, asthma patients, eyes, kidneys and other organs and could increase risk of cancer. 

He thus called upon everyone to remain cautious and take preventive measures. 

Spokesperson Budhathoki said that the air pollution could severely affect people with chronic illness and pregnant women. Therefore, he requested these vulnerable groups to avoid going outdoors unless absolutely necessary. 

Considering the fact that children, senior citizens and people suffering from respiratory related complications such as asthma and chronic coughs are particularly vulnerable to air pollution, he suggested that they exercise special precautions. 

Spokesperson Budhathoki noted that the rise in air pollution is mainly due to emissions from old vehicles, forest fires, industrial activities and smoke and dust generated from construction materials.

Furthermore, the Department of Environment mentioned that the pollution levels have been rising in different parts of the country in recent days due to unfavorable weather conditions. 

The Department also noted that the concentration of fine particles has notably increased in major cities such as Kathmandu and Pokhara and indicated that the air pollution is likely to persist in Kathmandu Valley for about another week. 

The Ministry advised people to avoid going outdoor during mornings and evenings and compulsorily wear masks if they must go out.

In the House of Representatives election held on March 5, Kathmandu, the district with the highest literacy rate, recorded 8,197 invalid votes. 

Thakur Prasad Bhattarai, the District Election Officer in Kathmandu, reported that 1,226 votes were annulled in Kathmandu-10, which has 83,301 registered voters. Out of the 60,441 votes cast in this constituency, 59,215 were deemed valid. 

In Constituency-9, a total of 933 votes were invalid, with 52,740 votes cast from a total of 78,495 voters, resulting in 51,807 valid votes. 

In Constituency-8, 623 votes were invalid, with a total of 57,811 voters. From 54,794 votes cast, only 37,171 were valid. Constituency No. 7 saw 805 votes rejected, with 44,857 votes cast from a total of 68,685 voters, leading to 44,052 valid votes. 

In Constituency-6, 811 votes were invalid, with 45,248 votes cast from a total of 67,759 voters, resulting in 44,437 valid votes, as per the District Election Office in Kathmandu. 

Constituency-5 had 902 rejected votes, with 51,969 votes cast from a total of 78,114 voters, yielding 51,067 valid votes. 

In Constituency-4, 862 votes were invalid, with 50,963 votes cast from a total of 76,251 voters, resulting in 50,101 valid votes. 

Constituency-3 had 940 rejected votes, with 44,190 votes cast from a total of 64,479 voters, leading to 43,250 valid votes. 

In Constituency-2, 1,095 votes were invalid, with 59,441 votes cast from a total of 88,708 voters, resulting in 58,346 valid votes. 

Finally, in Constituency-1, 434 votes were invalid, with 32,314 votes cast from a total of 55,292 voters, yielding 31,880 valid votes. 

The commission has declared that it will release information on Tuesday, following the tallying of all votes, concerning the overall count of invalid votes nationwide. 

According to the most recent data, it is projected that three to four percent of the votes were invalid, commission's deputy spokesperson Kul Bahadur GC told Rastriya Samachar Samiti.  

He also mentioned that by this evening, a total of 9,523,000 votes under the proportional system have been counted.

Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) candidate Sudhan Gurung has been elected to the House of Representatives (HoR) from Gorkha-1. 

According to Election Office Gorkha's Information Officer Rabilal Subedi, Gurung secured 29,896 votes, beating his nearest competitor Prem Kumar Khatri of Nepali Congress by 14,498 votes. Khatri secured 15,398 votes.

Similarly, Hari Raj Adhikari of Nepali Communist Party gained 11,124 votes and the CPN-UML candidate garnered 3,732.