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Election panel puts Rs400k limit for presidency runners
Election Commission (EC) on Friday fixed Rs400,000 as the expenditure limit for a presidential candidate.bookmark
Published at : March 3, 2018
Updated at : March 3, 2018 08:54
Kathmandu
Election Commission (EC) on Friday fixed Rs400,000 as the expenditure limit for a presidential candidate.
With the presidential elections set for March 13, the election body set the expenditure limit keeping it a little higher than the candidates for National Assembly elections held on February 7. Expenditure limit for candidates for the Upper House elections was fixed at Rs350,000.
Election Commissioner Narendra Dahal said, “A meeting of the EC chaired by Election Commissioner Ila Sharma on Friday decided to fix the expenditure limit for each presidential candidate at Rs400,000,” said
The EC has set separate expenditure limit under different headings that include—Purchasing voters’ list, vehicles, fuel, publicity materials, transportation, meeting and interactions, media publicity, office operation, mobilisation of representatives and miscellaneous.
The highest expenditure limit has been set at Rs100,000 under two headings—vehicles and meeting and interactions while lowest expenditure limit has been set for purchasing voters’ list at Rs1,000.
“We set the expenditure limit based on possible expenditure in essential headings,” said Dahal, adding expenditure might be low if the candidate is elected unopposed.
As per the EC’s election schedule, candidates will file nomination papers on March 7. They will be able to spend after filing the candidacy until elections are over and results declared.
As per the Act on Elections for President and Vice-President, the candidate has to maintain details of expenditure in line with the accounting practice as approved by the government.
The candidate will have to submit the details of expenditure to the EC headquarters or its offices within 30 days after the result is declared.
EC will fine those exceeding expenditure cap and those failing to submit expenditure details in time. The election body can fine either the amount equivalent to expenditure or the limit set by the EC whichever is higher as per the clause 26 of the Election Commission Act.
The EC had set expenditure limit at Rs2.5 million for each candidate for the House of Representatives elections under First Past the Post (FPTP) category while expenditure limit was set at Rs200,000 for candidate under Proportional Representation (PR) category. Similarly, expenditure cap was set at Rs1.5 million for each candidate for the Provincial Elections under FPTP category while it was Rs150,000 for each candidate under PR.
Breakup of Election expenditure limit
Heading Expenditure
Purchasing Voters’ List Rs1000
Vehicles Rs100,000
Fuel Rs20,000
Publicity materials Rs20,000
Transportation Rs15,000
Meeting/Interactions Rs100,000
Publicity through media, others Rs20,000
Office operation Rs60,000
Mobilisation of representatives Rs40,000
Miscellaneous Rs24,000
Total Rs400,000
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