Kathmandu: The Election Commission (EC) has appealed to media to help create an environment conducive to make the November 20 parliamentary and provincial elections a success.
Mass communication should play its important role in organising the elections in a fair, free, fearless, impartial and economic way by disseminating fact and credible news, said the EC in talks with editors and chiefs of various media houses here today. On the occasion, Chief Election Commissioner Dinesh Kumar Thapaliya expected positive roles of the country’s responsible mass media to make the polls a success.
Editor-in-chief of Thaha Khabar, a news website, Tirtha Koirala viewed that the election code of conduct should be issued shortly following the fixation of the date for the elections while demanding the publication of details of election expenditures.
Similarly, editor-in-chief of Barhakhari.com Pratik Pradhan was of the view that election campaigns should not be restricted and demanded transparency in election expenditures.
Likewise, parisambad.com editor-in-chief Raghu Mainali sought the role of EC to make political parties more responsible to the compliance with election code of conducts instead of trying to reach with them with a controlling approach. He advised the EC to focus on the voters’ education.
Prime Television’s Saroj Koirala apprised the EC about the lack of time media personnel facing to visit hometowns to cast their ballots during the election period while ekagaj.com editor-in-chief Hari Bahadur Thapa stressed the EC directions be in line with the laws.
According to the EC, to date there are 18,200,000 voters for the November 20 elections and the number of polling stations is around 10,825. Similarly, there will be approximately 22, 500 polling centers expect the temporary ones and it is expected to cost around Rs 10 billion to conduct the election.
Similarly, the EC has called on international organisations to observe the election. It plans to take measures for effective implementation of code of conduct and encourage media for self-regulation. It is to work for limiting the election cost within the ceiling.
