In the wake of recent attacks on some candidates, the government on Sunday notified the Election Commission that security for the contestants of the upcoming federal and provincial elections had been tightened.

The issue of threat to candidates featured prominently during a discussion among senior officials from the EC, the Home Ministry, the Defence Ministry and the chiefs of security agencies at the Election Commission, according to officials.

“We said that security of the candidates has been strengthened by taking measures such as increasing the number of personnel as required,” said Mohan Krishna Sapkota, secretary at the Ministry of Home Affairs. 

Security agencies suspect that the recent attacks against CPN (Maoist Centre) leaders Barshaman Pun and Janardan Sharma were carried out by cadres of the Netra Bikram Chand-led Communist Party of Nepal. Chand, however, denied the charges on Sunday.

“Security agencies have identified Chand’s cadres as the main threat to poll security,” said Election Commis-sioner Sudhir Shah. “We inquired about the status of implementation of the plan.”

The meeting discussed the security measures, the current scenario and mobilisation of forces, the EC said in a statement. The meet viewed the overall security situation as “satisfactory”, according to participants of the meeting. 

Praising the security plan, Chief Election Commissioner Ayodhee Prasad Yadav expressed his confidence that the candidates and political party leaders would be able to involve in campaigns without fear. Election Commissioner Shah instructed the security agencies to implement the measures in coordination among the forces.

Election commissioners, secretaries from the home and defence ministries and honchos of all the four security agencies attended the meet.