The Election Commission has set the expenditure limit for candidates for federal elections under the first-past-the-post system at Rs2.5 million, raising the ceiling by 150 percent from that fixed during the Constituent Assembly candidates in 2013.

 

The election body had fixed Rs1 million as the maximum expenditure limit four years ago. 

 

The spending limit for proportional representation (PR) candidates has been increased to Rs200,000 from Rs75,000 during the second CA elections.

 

The election authority also announced the permissible expenditure by candidates 

for the provincial FPTP elections at Rs1.5 million. The spending limit for a PR candidate is Rs150,000.

 

Election officials said the bar was raised in view of inflation over the past four years and the expanded geography of electoral constituencies for the federal elections.

The constituencies for the federal elections have been reduced to 165 from 240.

 

“Candidates require more mobility due to the expanded size of the constituencies. 

So we increased the expenditure limit for federal elections,” said Election Commissioner Ishwari Paudel. “We set the limit for provincial candidates in comparison with the federal election hopefuls.”

 

However, the amount is much higher than what the EC had initially proposed. 

At an interaction with the political parties on September 14, the EC had suggested a spending cap of Rs1.4 million for federal election candidates and Rs750,000 for provincial candidates under the direct polls.

 

The parties had differing views on the spending limit. But EC officials said they raised the bar to make the restrictions more practical. “What’s the meaning of the limit that cannot be implemented,” Paudel questioned.

 

Political leaders said the massive hike in limit surprises them. 

 

“The EC has to justify the increased spending cap as it defended its original proposal a month ago,” said CPN-UML leader Agni Kharel, arguing that the revision could discourage people with moderate means to contest the polls. 

 

 

Federal polls-2017 Rs2.5m Rs200,000

CA polls-2013 Rs1m Rs75,000

CA polls-2008 Rs0.5m Rs50,000

 

Provincial polls-2017 Rs1.5m Rs150,000