Freedom Forum expresses serious concern over the decision of the Election Commission of Nepal (ECN) to impose a fine on Setopati.com for allegedly violating the election code of conduct. The commission issued the decision on March 9.
Earlier, ECN had written to the Press Council Nepal (PCN) requesting action against Setopati.com, a leading online news portal, for publishing a public opinion poll related to the March 5 elections on February 16. The PCN subsequently sought clarification from the portal alleging that its content violated both election and journalistic codes of conduct to which the outlet had responded.
News reports including- 'Sobita Gautam will win the election in Chitwan-3: Renu Dahal second', 'Main contest in Kathmandu-3 between Raju Pandey and Kulman Ghising' were published ahead of the elections.
Following public criticism, Setopati.com edited the news titles and acknowledged that the outlet had failed to maintain institutional restraint. The portal further clarified that the reports were based on field surveys and interviews with more than 1,000 voters across multiple constituencies and were not intended to influence voter decisions.
On February 26, Editor-in-Chief Ameet Dhakal filed a writ petition at the Supreme Court against both ECN and PCN arguing that the letters issued violated constitutional guarantees of press freedom. The Supreme Court subsequently issued a show-cause order against the outlet on February 27. With the start of election’s silence period, no any interim order was issued.
Again, on March 9 the ECN instructed the outlet to submit fine amount Rs. 1,00,000 within 15 days.
This incident has sparked a wider debate in Nepal over the balance between press freedom and election regulation.
