55 political parties submit poll expenditure details to EC

Kathmandu, May 14: A total of 55 political parties that participated in the March 5 House of Representatives (HoR) election under the proportional representation (PR) system have submitted election expenditure details amounting to Rs. 185.51 million.

According to details published by the Election Commission (EC), the 55 political parties spent a total of Rs. 185,506,051 during the last HoR election under the PR system.

Altogether 63 political parties contested the election under the PR system using 57 election symbols. However, only 55 have submitted their expenditure reports. Rewrite this 

Similarly, six parties recognised as national parties, Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP), Nepali Congress (NC), CPN-UML, Nepali Communist Party (NCP), Shram Sanskriti Party and Rastriya Prajatantra Party (RPP), together spent Rs. 71,649,604 and secured seats in the HoR.

Among them, the RSP reported the highest expenditure at Rs. 21,164,618, followed by the NC with Rs. 19,651,306, the RPP with Rs. 19,620,000, the CPN-UML with Rs. 7,555,561, the Nepali Communist Party with Rs. 1,971,562, and the Shram Sanskriti Party with Rs. 1,686,557.

Among the parties that failed to submit expenditure details are the Swabhiman Party and Sachet Nepali Party and Nagarik Sarbochhata Party (contested under a common election symbol) have not submitted expenditure details. 

Meanwhile, the Rastriya Pariwartan Party submitted its expenditure details after the deadline.

Similarly, the Samajwadi Samabesi Party reported zero expenditure in its submission. Three political parties, Rastriya Pariwartan Party, Miteri Party Nepal and Bahujan Shakti Party, reported the lowest expenditure, with each submitting expenses of Rs. 50,000.

According to Narayan Prasad Bhattarai, spokesperson for the EC, political parties contesting the election under the proportional representation (PR) system were allowed to spend up to Rs. 200,000 per candidate.

He said none of the political parties that submitted their expenditure details exceeded the spending ceiling set by the Commission.

The EC has made it mandatory for political parties and candidates participating in the election to publicise their income and expenditure related to election campaigning within 35 days after the announcement of the final election results.

The Commission has enforced this provision through its code of conduct to ensure transparency in election financing.

According to Sub-section (4) of Section 72 of the House of Representatives Election Act, 2074, candidates contesting under the first-past-the-post (FPTP) system must submit their expenditure details to the respective District Election Office, while political parties contesting under the PR system are required to submit their details in the format prescribed by the EC.

Similarly, Sub-section (2) of Section 31 of the Election (Offences and Penalties) Act, 2073 states that expenditure details must be made public for the information of the general public.

Political parties and candidates that fail to submit, publicise, or provide proof of publicising their expenditure details within the stipulated timeframe may face action under the Election (Offenses and Penalties) Act.