EC publicise election programme, Code of Conduct

The Election Commission (EC) on Sunday publicised the programme for the Constituent Assembly (CA) polls and the election Code of Conduct.

Publicising two separate schedules for the first-past-the-post and proportional electoral systems, EC informed that the candidates will have to register their nominations from 10 am to 5 pm on October 5 as per the schedule for the first-past-the-post-system.

EC will publicise the initial list of candidates on October 6. Complaints against the nominations can be filed the following day. The EC will then review the complaints, and publicise the second list of the candidates by October 8.

The candidates can withdraw their nominations on October 9 and the final list of candidates will be published on October 10 while the candidates will be given election symbols on October 11.

Similarly, for the proportional electoral system, the political parties contesting the CA election must submit an enclosed list of candidates on September 30. The parties will be notified to correct the enclosed list on October 1, and they will have to submit the amended list on October 8. The enclosed list will be publicised on October 15.

EC will publicise the final enclosed list of candidates for the proportional electoral system on November 2 and distribute the election symbols on the same day.

Voting for both the elections will take place from 7 am to 5 pm across the country on November 22.

EC has informed that vote counting for the first-past-the-post system will not start until all ballot boxes from all the polling booths are collected.

Meanwhile, the EC has approved the Constituent Assembly Election Code of Conduct 2064 for the political parties, their candidates, electoral officials and the media.

As per the Code of Conduct, each candidate can spend a maximum of Rs 459,500 on election campaign whereas the candidates of proportional electoral system can spend up to Rs 50,000.

After registration of the nominations, all kinds of opinion polls will be banned till the end of voting.

The Code of Conduct strictly discourages use of provocative expression against particular community, ethnic group, religion, linguistic group or region. It also bans use of publicity materials made of plastic and has restricted mass meetings and rallies within 7:00 am to 7:00 pm.