‘Election Commission should act with restrain’

The former Chief Election Commissioners Bhojraj Pokharel have urged the Election Commission (EC) to act with restraint. Since moderation is the greatest strength of the EC during elections the speech and behavior of EC should be in accordance with it, pointed out Pokharel. Arguing that even a small mistake committed by the EC can ignite like a spark of fire, he added that EC officials should be sensitive towards such things.

Speaking at an interaction program on ‘Management of the Election Commission’ organized in Lalitpur on Sunday, Pokharel remarked that the EC chief should think deeply so that the atmosphere of the election is not destroyed because of him.

Surya Prasad Shrestha, another ex-chief election commissioner, drew the attention of the EC to make effective security arrangements for the upcoming election keeping in mind the security sensitivity. He underlined the need that districts where top leaders are contesting election these should be considered as more sensitive areas and attention should be paid to arrange necessary security for them.

Former Acting Chief Election Commissioner Dolakh Bahadur Gurung also underlined the need for the EC to be serious in order to avoid confusion in the counting of votes. He mentioned that the issue of counting of votes in all elections will be complicated and said that the commission should make a plan in time to prevent that from happening. Gurung said that the Commission should be well aware of the works relating to monitoring of the ballots dispatched to various polling centres.

Gurung said that the EC should also be careful about the security of the election ballot box. Discussing the incident in the past when the truck carrying the ballot went missing, he also said that such a situation should not be allowed to happen.