Poll expense details made public

By Chandra Pandak

Taplejung, Apr. 7: All candidates who contested the House of Representatives (HoR) election from Taplejung, held on March 5, have submitted their election expenditure details. 

On Sunday, the final day for submission, all 13 candidates from various political parties who competed in the election submitted their expense reports to the District Election Office.

According to the District Election Office, Taplejung, the total election expenditure submitted by the 13 candidates from different political parties amounts to Rs 10,919,173. 

As per legal provisions, candidates are required to make their election expenses public and submit the details to the Election Commission within 30 days of the announcement of the final results.

In line with this provision, all candidates from the district disclosed their expenses by Sunday, the final day of the 30-day deadline following the announcement of results. 

According to Chief Election Officer Dhanraj Shrestha, Kshitij Thebe of the CPN-UML, who was elected from Taplejung, reported election expenses of Rs 2,242,525.

However, his closest rival, Gajendra Prasad Tumyahng of the Nepali Congress (NC), reported higher expenditure than Thebe. 

Tumyahng submitted an expense report of Rs 2,493,000, the highest among all 13 candidates.

Similarly, Khel Prasad Budhakhetri (Parag), who contested from the Nepali Communist Party, reported spending Rs 2,349,928. 

Birendra Shrestha, a candidate from the Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP), submitted expenses of Rs 1,176,575. Likewise, Santosh Rai of the Shram Sanskriti Party reported expenses of Rs. 319,545, while Indra Prasad Thapa of the Rastriya Prajatantra Party spent Rs 985,000. 

Kirtiman Maden of the Ujyalo Nepal Party reported Rs. 416,000, and Narapati Paudel of the CPN (Maoist) reported Rs. 350,500 in election expenses.

Indra Kumar Limbu of the Nepal Janamukti Party reported Rs. 168,000, while Surya Gurung of the Janata Samajwadi Party Nepal submitted expenses of Rs.  150,000. Arun Subba Lechharwo, another candidate from the Janata Samajwadi Party, reported Rs. 67,000. 

The lowest expenditure was reported by Santa Bahadur Limbu of the Mongol National Organisation, amounting to Rs. 65,100.

According to Bandabraj Dulal (Bipin), a computer operator at the District Election Office, Taplejung, candidates Shrestha of the RSP and Tumyahang of the NC submitted their expense reports five days after the election. Other candidates followed thereafter.

Thapa of the Rastriya Prajatantra Party submitted his expense report only on the final day, Sunday, informed Chief Election Officer Shrestha. 

He added that all candidates from the district have now submitted their election expenditure details to the office.

The final results of the election in Taplejung were announced on the evening of March 7, two days after the voting.