Kathmandu. A polling officer has been taken away due to a message sent on WhatsApp. The Office of the Election Officer, Baglung, has removed Prakash Gaire, the polling officer of Ramuwa AB polling station under the House of Representatives member constituency number 2 there, from his responsibility.

According to the office, Gaire was given the responsibility and appointment of a polling officer and sent to his work area along with ballot papers and voter materials. It is mentioned that he had been working to boost the morale of polling officers deployed at other polling stations by messaging the WhatsApp group of polling officers of constituencies number 1 and 2 at 4:13 pm on Tuesday.

It is mentioned that he had sent a message to the group saying, ‘You pay 8000 for the vote transportation and the vehicle takes 16000 and you don’t run and sit tight????’. The office has concluded that this shows that Gaire cannot fulfill his responsibility and that there is no possibility of the House of Representatives member election to be held on 21 Falgun.

“As per Section 20 of the Election Manpower Management Directive for Members of the House of Representatives, 2082, the aforementioned work and activities you have undertaken may lead to negligence in the election work or adversely affect the integrity, impartiality, independence and credibility of the election, and therefore the office of this election officer cannot have confidence in you. You have been removed from the responsibility of the polling officer of Ramuwa Secondary School, Ramuwa,” the office’s notice states.