KATHMANDU, Oct 15: The Election Commission (EC) has instructed security agencies to stop ministers and local executive members from participating in election campaigns without its prior permission.

The directive comes after the issue was raised during the meeting of the Code of Conduct Monitoring Committee held on Thursday. The EC team instructed the security officers to stop the election campaign program if  it violates the code of conduct.

In the discussion, senior officials of the security agencies argued that it would be difficult to ban high-ranking government officials from participating in the program. However, Chief Election Commissioner Dinesh Kumar Thapaliya said that all the candidates should be treated equally and instructed the officials not to remain silent if there is an activity that violates the election code of conduct.

Chief Commissioner Thapaliya mentioned that if the minister, chief minister or local level people's representative run an election campaign, people should ask if they have permission from the EC. “If they don’t have permission, just inform the EC and we will take necessary action,” he said.

Cabinet members of the federal government and the state government are not allowed to participate in election campaigning except for being a candidate for the election. If they have to participate as campaigners of the party, they will have to get permission from the EC in advance. Even with permission, they will not be allowed to use government resources.

 
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