Voting mandatory for civil servants

KIRAN CHAPAGAIN

KATHMANDU, Feb 2 - Chief Secretary Lok Man Singh Karki, has ordered all government secretaries to ensure that all government employees cast their votes in the upcoming municipal polls.

Karki issued a "verbal circular" at a meeting of secretaries at Singha Durbar Wednesday, a source at the Office of the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers said.

"Karki warned that those government employees who do not exercise their franchise will be subject to punishment," the source said seeking anonymity. Karki, the source said, however, did not tell the meeting about the kind of punishment.

Karki also informed secretaries that the government would monitor whether or not civil servants took part in the polls.

Sources said this is the first time voting has been made strictly compulsory for government employees. "This might be due to fear of low turn out in the upcoming elections," said another source preferring to remain unnamed.

one could argue that democracy is a two-way street
citizens have a right to vote
they also have a responsibility to vote

of course, one could also argue that if the citizen does not feel that the elections in question does not represent the democratic spirit, it is the duty of the citizen to boycott it.

btw, does anyone know the origins of the word boycott? id like to know
it's not from the former english opener geoffrey boycott refusing to play anything pitched outside the line of off stump, is it?

it was the name of landlord who forced his tenants to pay for the rent and he used to increase it quite often and oneday all his tenants drove him out hence boycott term started it happened somewhere in scotland i guess i read it in tinkle comic i only have a faint memory of that

Unwilling contestants face cops’ wrath

Himalayan News Service
Rajbiraj, February 4:
Plainclothes security personnel this morning detained those withdrawing their nominations for the civic polls for three hours and released them later. Policemen rounded up Aasha Devi Upadhyaya and ward member Raju Pariyar from their houses. They had announced the withdrawal of candidacy yesterday through newspapers.
“My son filed his nomination without informing us. He withdrew the same later, but security forces arrested him,” said Tara Devi (58), Pariyar’s mother. Family sources quoted Pariyar as saying that the administration forced him to refrain from withdrawing his candidacy. Security forces also reached the house of Sakir Hussen, a ward member candidate of ward number-3, this morning, family sources said. Candidates contesting the polls are being lodged at a guest house in Rajbiraj municipality and the DDC office.
Meanwhile, one candidate of Rajbiraj municipality allegedly misbehaved with a member of the Nepali Congress, Saptari, Bina Devi Pokharel, last night.
Organising a press meet at her house, Pokharel said Sakal Dev Yadav, a candidate for the post of deputy mayor misbehaved with her. “Yadav had pasted a poster on the door of my house. As I tried to remove it, he threatened to kill me,” she said. Security personnel had accompanied Yadav at her house, she added.

Elected officials go missing
NEPALGUNJ: Officials of Nepalgunj municipality who have been elected unopposed are missing since their election. Even the family members don’t know their whereabouts. Gita Teli, wife of chairman of ward number 8, Ramu Teli, a rickshaw puller earlier, said she hasn’t seen her husband since the past eight days. Chairman of ward number 16, Brij Lal Chidimar, too, is missing since he filed his nomination, while his daughter-in-law, who is a member of the same ward is also missing.
Though chairman of ward number 1, Lal Bahadur Khatri, contacted his family on the day he was elected, he is now out of contact, while the mayor, Bipin Shrestha, is in Kathmandu. Work has been affected in offices due to these officials’ absence. — HNS