31 Ashoj, Kathmandu: Secretary at the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology, Dr Baikuntha Aryal, has instructed the subordinate bodies to gear up for making the elections to the House of Representatives and Province Assembly successful. In his address to a discussion on the topic at the Ministry today, the Secretary urged the State-owned media and bodies concerned to contribute for conducting the elections in a free and impartial atmosphere. He asserted that media should strictly follow the election code of conduct and well inform the people about it. Officials from the National News Agency (RSS), Radio Nepal, Nepal Telecom, Nepal Telecommunications Authority and Department of Information and Broadcasting and other related bodies pledged to contribute from their respective quarters to hold the elections in a decent way. It may be noted that the voting for the twin elections has been scheduled for upcoming November 20 in a single phase. Rastriya Samachar Samiti (RSS) executive chairperson Dharmendra Jha said rules RSS employees should follow in writing and editing news related to the elections have been already made and circulated to its all employees in all 77 districts. Similarly, the Press Council Nepal chairperson Bal Krishna Basnet said the government media should stay away from disseminating fake and misleading poll related news. Chairperson of the Advertisement Board Laxman Humagain stressed the need for cooperation between the authorities concerned with the issue of regulating social sites and online news websites. The Gorkhapatra Corporation has created a separate mechanism on the issue of implementing the election code of conduct and disseminating balanced election related news, said its executive chairperson Bishnu Subedi. A taskforce has been formed to make election activities effective and training sessions for media-persons were organised, informed general manager of the Nepal Television Phulman Bal.
