Koirala gets EC’s nod to use chopper for poll campaigns

Kathmandu: Nepali Congress (NC) president Sushil Koirala has finally got the nod from the Election Commission (EC) to fly in the chopper in remote districts during the poll campaigning.
Earlier, the EC had not granted permission to NC president Koirala to use helicopter to reach Lamjung from Chitwan for addressing a mass gathering organised by the NC Lamjung.
The EC has rejected the request of the Lamjung NC to use the chopper to travel Lamjung from Chitwan citing a close distance between the two districts.
However, the EC has clarified that the party should maintain the expenses incurred through the use of chopper under the ceiling that it has determined for the poll campaigning.
Talking with nepalireporters.com, Election Commissioner Dolakh Bahadur Gurung said that the expenses of helicopter use would be counted under the ceiling of 75 thousand rupees determined for a candidate under the proportional representation system or direct system.
Meanwhile, the EC has directed UCPN (Maoist) Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal to henceforth use helicopter for election campaigning only after taking prior approval of the Commission.
Such a directive was issued on Thursday by a meeting of the EC held under the chairmanship of Chief Election Commissioner Nilkantha Upreti, according to EC spokesperson Bir Bahadur Rai.
Chairman Prachanda has requested for permission yesterday but used helicopter before it was approved, and hence he has been requested to do so only after receiving an approval for the same, Rai said.