KATHMANDU, MAY 12The National Human Rights Commissions has painted a dismal picture of arrangements made by government and relevant authorities to ensure maximum and overwhelming participation of voters in the local polls scheduled for tomorrow. NHRC member accuses IGP of rights violation Human rights declined during the COVID-19 pandemic, in countries from Angola to the US to New Zealand As per the pre-poll monitoring conducted by the rights body, there has been no arrangement for easy accessibility of helpless, incapacitated, and differently-abled persons to the polling centres.

The Election Commission does not even have information about the number of women, Dalits, senior citizens, and differently-abled persons who will exercise their right to vote owing to the lack of disaggregated data related to voters. "Many polling centres are inaccessible and voters need to walk for up to 10 hours to reach there," the NHRC said.

The rights body also lamented that candidacy of women and Dalits were also minimal and below the mark.

It said major political party had outdone their fringe counterparts in terms of election code of conduct violations during the silence period.Some political parties were found to be using children for election campaigning, organising feasts to bring voters into their fold, engaging in hate speech and using publicity materials in contravention of the code of conduct.

The monitoring of implementation of code of conduct does not seem to be effective due to the lack of toll-free line and grievance handling mechanism."Some polling centres of hilly districts lack proper arrangements to ensure the convenience of differently-abled persons, senior citizens and pregnant women in the voting process.There are several women whose names have been missed out in the voter rolls," the NHRC said.The political parties did not comply with health protocols against COV- ID-19 in the course of organising election rallies and assemblies.Some districts do not have adequate electoral materials.Violent clashes between political parties have been reported in various districts of Karnali and Sudurpaschim provinces during the election campaign.

The EC has failed to initiate immediate and stern action against leaders and cadres of political parties involved in violations of code of conduct.A version of this article appears in the print on May 13, 2022, of The Himalayan Times. .

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