Jan 26, Kathmandu - Harkaraj Sampang, the outgoing mayor of Dharan Sub-metropolitan City and chairman of the Shram Sanskriti Party, has been accused of using children in electioneering. He is contesting from Sunsari-1 for the upcoming House of Representatives election.

The Dharan Nagar Children's Network has filed a complaint against him on Sunday (Magh 11). The complaint has been filed with the Returning Officer's Office and Dharan Police demanding action against Sampang.

The network is accused of directly using children during the electioneering campaign to be held on Falgun 21.

The complaint reminds us of the legal provision that children cannot be used directly or indirectly for political purposes as per Sub-section 970 of Chapter 2, Section 7 of the Children's Act, 2075 BS. It has been alleged that children are involved in illegal electioneering activities, which is a serious violation of child rights.

The Municipal Children's Network has demanded that Sampang be brought to the office of the Election Officer for necessary discussion, investigation and action as per the code of conduct and law.

Receiving the complaint, Chief Election Officer Divyaraj Ghimire said that the action process will be taken forward. According to him, a committee formed under the coordination of the Chief Election Officer will study the complaint and a letter will be sent to the taluk body.

Ghimire said, "If the monitoring proves that children have been used, a fine of up to one hundred thousand rupees and even the candidacy registration can be cancelled."