The Election Commission has proposed creating a pool fund for political parties to finance their election campaigns for ensuring greater transparency of political financing.

Stating that the elections are becoming increasingly expensive with some parties and candidates spending lavishly from the resources received from unknown sources, the EC officials said that the practice has created divide among the candidates who can finance their campaign and those who cannot.

Speaking at the meeting of the State Affairs and Good Governance Committee of Parliament on Wednesday, Election Commissioner Ila Sharma proposed creating a pool fund where the state and the interested people could make contributions.

“Based on the number of seats in the parliament, the parties can be provided grant from the pool,” she said.She said that it would help maintain transparency in political financing as there would be timely auditing of such financing. The system will create level playing field for all candidates running in elections.

According to a study conducted by the Election Observation Committee, Nepal (EOC-Nepal), Rs131.63 billion was spent during the three-tier elections held last year. The government spent Rs34.72 billion while the candidates and their supporters spent as high as Rs96.91 billion in total.The study showed that overall expenditure surged as most of the candidates spent beyond the limit set by the poll authority.

For instance, average spending by a first-past-the-post candidate for the House of Representatives stood at Rs10.1 million while that by a candidate for provincial assembly under FPTP accounted for Rs8.1 million. The average spending by a mayoral candidate during the local elections amounted to Rs 1.73 million while a deputy mayor-hopeful spent Rs1.38 million on an average.The expenditure cap set by the EC was Rs2.5 million for Lower House candidates under the FPTP category and Rs1.5 million for a provincial assembly FPTP candidate. The ceiling for mayor and deputy mayor candidates was Rs750,000 and Rs550,000, respectively.

The candidates had submitted fake expenditure details to the poll governing body to show that their campaign spendings were within the limit set by the EC.

Meanwhile, the lawmakers have sought clarity whether the parties could also raise fund by themselves after receiving grant from the state. They are of the view that it would be loss for the country if the parties are allowed to collect fund from both the state and outside the state machinery. Lawmaker Binod Chaudhary sought concrete proposal from the EC regarding political financing and how to make it transparent. Another lawmaker Maheshwor Jung Gahatraj insisted in state funding for the parties during the elections.