November 13: Election activities have intensified across the country as the November 20 voting to the House of Representatives and the Province Assembly is fast approaching. Election-related activities and campaigns have shot up, and candidates are reaching out to voters with their respective party's election manifesto.    
Election campaigns have been done in a thrifty and careful way, claimed Shaligram Sharma, spokesperson for the Election Commission.    
This time, the election code of conduct has been strictly implemented as compared to the past elections, he maintained.

"The code of conduct has a provision that bars extravagant election expenditure. As a result of the strict implementation of the election code of conduct, the distribution of election-related pamphlets and banners, election rallies and assemblies have significantly gone down. But, election has remained in the heart and mind of voters, and election ambiance has not gone down," said Sharma.    
Lately, elections are becoming decent with the political parties, candidates, voters and democracy growing matured, said CPN (UML) leader Subas Nembang.    
"There has been drastic changes in elections campaigns in a bid to make them economical with consultations between political parties and the EC," he said.    
The elections are being held for a total 275 HoR members, and 550 Provincial Assembly members. There are a total of 17,988, 570 eligible voters.    
Scenes in the previous elections used to be different. In the past, there used to be massive display of banners and pasting of pamphlets in market areas and urban settlement. Supporters of political parties and candidates used to be seen wearing clothes printed with election symbols of political parties and election candidates.    
This time, the EC could ensure a significant change in the publicity campaign. Just 15 days were officially given for the election mass meetings and the door-to-door visit programmes. Election publicity programmes were not extravagant this time as compared to the past.    
Former Speaker Subash Nembang said people/voters are questioning the candidates reaching out to them whether they could deliver development projects such as roads and drinking water facility for them. The voters still are still seeking commitments from the potential legislators.    
Nepali Congress leader Pushpa Bhusal said the given time for election publicity was too little this time as per the geography of electoral constituencies. According to her, the parties focused on home visit programmes instead of mass gatherings. “This time election glitz was not at the sight, but people are enthusiastic for the voting.”    

The model of election publicity has been changed this time with the belief that election costs should be within the limit to promote fair politics. -- RSS