The commission on Wednesday took the decision following demands from some political parties to allow candidates the use of helicopters in a few more districts for election campaigning purposes.[break]
“Senior central leaders of political parties, with consent of the commission, can use helicopters for election campaigning in more areas where roads are impassable because of natural disaster and if there is any unprecedented circumstances,” Chief Election Commissioner Neel Kantha Uprety told Republica.
The election code of conduct has allowed helicopters to be used for poll campaigning in Solukhumbhu, Manang, Mustang, Dolpa, Humla, Jumla, Mugu, Kalikot, Bajhang, Bajura and Jajarkot districts as these districts are remote from the point of view of transportation.
Asked about names of more districts where senior central leaders of political parties could use helicopters for election campaigning, Uprety said, “We have not taken decision about any specific district.”
According to sources, the EC relaxed its rules on the use of helicopters as it realizes the role top leaders can play in creating conducive environment for the forthcoming Constituent Assembly (CA) election scheduled for November 19 through their election campaigning.
“It will take less time to visit several election constituencies by helicopters and it will be less expensive for the states as senior central leaders need security arrangement that can be difficult to arrange on longer routes,” said an EC official on condition of anonymity.
The major political parties, especially UCPN (Maoist), have argued that top leaders and candidates need to visit several districts during the election campaigning and this will not be possible if they are allowed to use helicopters in just 11 of the districts.
Though the commission had earlier proposed to ban the use of expensive means of transport, including helicopters, for poll campaigning, it later allowed the use of helicopters in 11 remote districts after the UCPN (Maoist) demanded strongly that helicopter use be allowed.
Meanwhile, the EC has warned concerned political parties and candidates that they should take responsibility of any violent activity that occurs during election campaigning in any election constituency.
The commission´s warning comes at a time when there are reports of clashes between rival political parties during election campaigning.
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