Less money spent in this local election

Kathmandu, May 15: Candidates and political parties spent lesser amount of money for Friday’s local election than previous polls. Restrictions on over-spending and the type of promotional materials allowed to be used seemingly brought down the candidates’ expenditure this time around.

The law also limited election spending. The Local Level Election Act stipulates that people standing for the mayoral and deputy mayoral posts of a metropolitan city can only spend up to Rs. 750,000 on their campaigns. Similarly, those standing for ward-level positions are only allowed to spend a maximum of Rs. 300,000.

Those campaigning in a sub-metropolis are allowed to spend up to Rs. 550,000 for the mayoral and deputy mayoral posts and Rs. 250,000 for ward-level positions. In municipalities, those amounts are Rs. 400,000 and Rs. 200,000 respectively and in rural municipalities, they are Rs. 350,000 and Rs. 150,000.

The code of conduct issued by the Election Commission (EC) for the recently held local elections also focuses on reducing campaign spending. It discouraged the parties and candidates from producing and distributing stickers, clothes, hats, caps, vests, shirts, jackets, scarves, badges, 

masks, lockets and bags featuring their election symbols or logos in their rallies and meetings. 

The code also prohibited them from putting up boards and flexes and screening audio-visual materials. The parties and candidates were only allowed to display their flags and election symbols on cloth that was three-foot long and three-foot wide. Nothing else and nothing more. 

Chiri Babu Maharjan, who won the last local election and became the mayor of Lalitpur Metropolitan City, Lalitpur and is again vying for the same position, claimed that he spent extremely less in both his electoral campaigns. He said, “We will not cross the ceiling set by the EC. 

Stating that he only spent money on printing his manifesto and sample ballot papers, Maharjan said that he had not yet calculated the exact amount he spent. He further added that the people around him did not expect him to spend extravagantly to win.

Naru Lal Chaudhary, who campaigned to be the mayor of Ghorahi Sub-Metropolitan City, Dang in 2017 and in 2022, said that the only money he spent was on making his flags in the size prescribed by the Commission. “The costs have come down as it is not possible to spend on hats, vests and other items. Our expenditure is well below the limit fixed by the EC,” he said.

Narendra Neupane, the candidate for the mayorship of Kohalpur Municipality, Banke, felt that the candidates’ election expenses were decreasing. Pointing to a shorter campaign time and a ban on printing clothes, Neupane, who had stood for the post in 2017 as well, said that the costs had come down significantly compared to the last local election. He also believed that social media had helped bring spending down.

The issue of campaign expenditure came into the spotlight some weeks ago after Nepali Congress leader Dr. Shashanka Koirala shared that he had spent Rs. 60 million in the last federal election when he was elected from Nawalpur (Nawalparasi East) Constituency No. 1. His statement attracted controversy because he had told the EC at the time of his election that he spent Rs. 2.175 million only. This led the Commission to seek a clarification from him.