EC says necessary preparations already completed

KATHMANDU, April 23: By-elections in three vacant constituencies of the House of Representatives are being held today. 

The by-elections are being held in Chitwan-2, Bara-2 and Tanahun-2 as the positions of lawmakers in these constituencies fell vacant due to various reasons.

Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) President Rabi Lamichhane, who was elected from Chitwan 2, was dismissed by the Supreme Court in a case related to citizenship, and the constituency then fell vacant.

Similarly, two constituencies of the federal parliament fell vacant after senior leader of Nepali Congress (NC) Ram Chandra Paudel elected from Tanahun-2 was elected as the country’s president and Janata Samajbadi Party (JSP) leader Ram Sahay Prasad Yadav elected from Bara-2 as vice president. 

Meanwhile, the Election Commission (EC) has said that all necessary preparations related to the by-elections to the members of the HoR taking place on Sunday have been completed. 

The EC has appealed to all voters to exercise their franchise right in the by-polls scheduled to take place in Bara-2, Chitwan-2 and Tanahu-2 on April 23. 

Voting would take place in the designated polling centers from 7.00 am to 5.00 pm Sunday. According to the EC, it has adopted special measures to hold the election in a free and fair manner. 

Silence period started 48 hours before the election time. The political parties and candidates are not allowed to make any publicity related activities in the silence period. 

For effective enforcement of the code of conduct during the period, the EC has deputed election monitoring committee, special monitoring committee and monitoring officers. 

The employees and security personnel deputed in the polling centers are also minutely monitoring the violation of election code of conduct, shared EC's assistant spokesperson Guru Prasad Wagle. 

As per the EC directive, the movement and vehicular operation in the concerned district on the voting day would be as designated by the local administration. 

Necessary directive was issued to the local administration and local units to arrange logistics, including tents for preparedness of possible unfavorable weather conditions during voting time. 

The EC has already directed the concerned agencies to take action against those involved in foiling voting related processes as per the law and conduct elections without any obstruction. 

The EC has expressed its confidence that all stakeholders, including political parties, candidates, voters, civil society and mass media would cooperate and participate in making the by-election a success.

 
• by-election
 
• Tanahun
 
• Bara
 
• Chitwan