Kathmandu, Jan 25: The violation of election code of conduct in the wake of growing digital presence of voters and candidates alike has been a pressing concern for the Election Commission.
The social media networks facilitating wider spread of the contents have amplified the challenges.
With the House of Representatives election approaching near, the enforcement of code of conduct has drawn a serious concern.
Viral trend is characteristic of the social networks. Recently, a brief video clips on use of a vehicle with an Indian number plate made round on social networks, drawing huge criticism. Irrespective of the lack of detail information on it, people were pouring in their responses for and against the content.
Similarly, sloganeering against and defaming candidates is also rife on social networks. The election code of conduct prohibits rally and gathering of more than 25 persons while filing candidacies, but to sheer mockery of the provision, most of the political parties and their candidates were found flouting the code. The campaigns bearing the party flags and banners were made viral even with use of children.
The Election Commission sought clarification from the concerned leaders why a sitting Chief Minister attended a rally of a candidate while filing latter’s candidacy at an election office.
Some of the political parties and candidates used national flag, which drew equal concern. The Commission is conducting scrutiny in a bid to curb the spread of falsity and violation of code of conduct via social networks.
Officiating Chief Election Commissioner Ram Prasad Bhandari informed that effective monitoring would be carried out to deter and curb fake information, misinformation and hate speech.
The Commission would make more effective campaign than the last general election of 2079BS that even the representatives of the social media were taken together to this bid.
The efforts are on to minimize the character assassination of rival candidates with the misuse of artificial intelligence (AI) and obfuscation imposed on public with a spread of false information, according to him. Bhandari, however, said all sides’ cooperation is imperative to this regard.
In this connection, eight persons spreading harmful contents relating to election were written to the Press Council Nepal, the Cyber Bureau of Nepal Police, and the Central Election Code of Conduct Monitoring Committee for action.
Importantly, Election Commission has prioritized the collaboration with social platform companies to regulate the fake and misleading information and mala fide speech.
Even an ‘e-monitoring plus’ software is in place at the Commission with the assistance of UNDP to boost the monitoring of code of conduct.
The electoral body has appealed to all people to stay aware of such misinformation and hate speech which are against code of conduct.
Meanwhile, Home Minister Om Prakash Aryal visited the Cyber Bureau of Nepal Police on Sunday itself and reminded that the Bureau did not need approval from senior officials or any other bodies to take action against those spreading misleading information on social sites.
He urged the Bureau to closely monitor the spread of indecent, baseless, and legally prohibited content, as well as misinformation and disinformation on social media in view of the upcoming election to the House of Representatives. #nepal #rss
