Candidates begin submitting election spending

With the completion of the vote count, the candidates of the election to the House of Representatives and Provincial Assembly have begun submitting the spending they made during campaigning.

The Election Commission had decided to fine the candidates with an equal amount of spending ceiling if they failed to submit the election expense within the stipulated time.

The final result of the vote count in the Nuwakot district was announced last Saturday. On Sunday, just a day after the completion of the vote count, seven election candidates submitted their expenses.

The election officer at the district election office, Jay Prasad Gautam, informed that seven candidates submitted details of expenses while a dozen others took forms.

A newly elected member of the Province Assembly from constituency-2 (a), Ram Kumar Dhungana, reached the election office on Sunday while he was scheduled to thank the voters in Bidur Municipality along with another elected one. Dhungana himself reached the election office along with bills.

“I’m submitting details on election spending as per legal provision. The exchange of gratitude can be continued some days later too,” he said, adding he had heard that the candidates of local level election violating the EC rule were fined.

The Election Commission had fixed the ceiling that each candidate for House of Representatives member under the FPTP category could spend up to Rs 3.1 million in constituency no 1, while Rs 2.9 million in constituency no 2 of Nuwakot district. Similarly, under the Provincial Assembly election, all four candidates for FPTP category were allowed to spend as much as Rs 1.7 million while it was Rs 200 thousand for the proportional under HoR, and Rs 150 thousand for the proportional under the Province level.

The candidates are asked to submit the spending within a month of the final vote count.