NEPALGUNJ: The Civil society in Banke has urged the Election Commission to facilitate the participation of the people with disabilities, the helpless, sick and senior citizens in the May 13 local elections.

In the discussion on the election code of conduct jointly organized by the National Human Rights Commission and Human Rights Network Nepalgunj in collaboration with the Information and Human Rights Research Center here on Friday, members of the civil society said they will also monitor the election effectively to make the local elections free and fair.

Stating that the election code of conduct is still being violated, they said that information on the issues observed during the monitoring will be disseminated through the help desk in the office of the Human Rights Commission.

Chief of the National Human Rights Commission, Nepalgunj, Jhangkar Rawal said that a helpdesk would be set up to monitor various election-related activities and draw the attention of those concerned.

Former Commissioner of NHRC Sudip Pathak stressed on the need for political parties, media, candidates and others to strictly adhere to the code of conduct issued by the Election Commission.

Advocate Biswajit Tiwari made a presentation on the election code of conduct. During the discussion, Sunil Shrestha, the outgoing central vice-chairman of Nepal Bar, Bhola Mahat of INSEC, Suresh Gautam, the provincial coordinator of NEOC and others stressed on the need to reduce the number of incidents of violation of election code of conduct.