Parties’ campaign costs zoom past limit

KATHMANDU, NOV 02 -

Most of the poll-participating parties have failed to maintain the account of their poll expenses positively despite their pledges to collect party funds through the banking system for the upcomingelection .

While some of the major parties have collected funds through the banking channel, many remain unclear as to how much has been collected and how it have been disbursed. For instance, the UCPN (Maoist), the largest party in the disbanded Constituent Assembly, maintains that it is yet to receive public donations.

“We’ve opened an account at the Global IME Bank but have not received a single penny,” said Prahlad Budhathoki, the office secretary at the Maoist party.

Asked how the party was managing the campaign expenditures of its senior leaders, including Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal, Budhathoki maintained that they were borne by the respective districts they would visit.

Budhathoki also claimed that the party is using reserve funds comprising levies and fees collected from party workers.

The Nepali Congress also seems to be unaware of the funds collected in its bank accounts. According NC office secretary Chinkaji Shrestha, the party has not calculated the actual collection.

“The party’s liaison offices in several parts of the world have been sending in money. But it’s not sufficient,” Shrestha said, adding that the actual amount collected through banks would be known only after the election .

Anti-corruption experts closely monitoring party finances say that financial dealings of senior party leaders remain “far from transparent”.

“Top leaders have been indulging in extravagant poll campaigns. This must be checked to ensure a transparent use of funds,” said Surya Nath Upadhyay, former chief of the Commission for Investigation of Abuse of Authority.

But the CPN-UML claims to have maintained a proper book-keeping. The party estimates to have collected Rs 35 million through the banking channel.

According to Bharat Mohan Adhikari, the head of the party’s finance department, all the candidates have got Rs 100,000 each, with women candidates receiving an additional Rs 100,000.

He said the party could provide an additional Rs 50,000 to Rs 100,000 to each candidate if more funds are collected after the Tihar festival.

With a few exceptions, non-transparency remains the norm among the Madhes-centric parties. The Upendra Yadav-led Madhesi Jana-dhikar Forum-Nepal stated that the party has collected around Rs 30 million.

According to Sohan Agrawal, chief of the party’s finance department, candidates have already been provided with Rs

100,000 each and could get another Rs 200,000.

But Sadbhawana Party chief Rajendra Mahato declined to disclose how much money his party has collected but said they were seeking donations. “Our party has been asking businessmen and well-wishers to provide for the costs of posters, manifesto and cadre mobilisation,” said Mahato.

The Election Commission has set an expenditure cap of Rs 1 million for a candidate contesting under the first-past-the-post system and Rs 75,000 for those contesting under the proportional representation (PR) category. But some candidates confided with the Post that their expenses will exceed the ceiling. “My expenditures are sure to cross Rs 3 million,” said a contestant from Rupandehi.

A total of 6,128 candidates are contesting under the direct electionsystem, while there are 11,003 under the PR category.

According to some estimates, a candidate in a central Madhes district such as Parsa and Rautahat will be spending somewhere between Rs 5 million and Rs 10 million depending on the constituency. The cost spirals considerably once the candidate uses a helicopter for campaigning. As per the existing rates, an hour of copter use costs at least Rs 170,000.

Nepal’s political parties, according to the Transparency International, are the most corrupt institutions in the country followed by police, parliament, judiciary, private sector, educational institutions, NGOs, the health sector and religious institutions. Political parties rarely made their sources of income public even though there are demands for public auditing. This is despite the EC requirement that the parties make their financial details public at the beginning of the fiscal year.