The Finance Ministry has allocated Rs 8.11 billion for the upcoming local election.
The Election Commission through its meeting on February 21 had demanded a budget of Rs 8.95 billion for the election but the Finance Ministry has allocated Rs 840 million less, according to Election Commission Spokesperson Shaligram Sharma Paudel.
A total of Rs 8.15 billion was spent in the last local election, according to the Election Commission.
The government has already announced to hold election in all 753 local bodies on May 13.
The Election Commission had estimated expenses for the local election to come at around almost Rs 12 billion but had sought budget approval after limiting some expenses to a large extent following consultation with the ministry, according to an Election Commission source.
Election Commission office-bearers are unhappy that the ministry has slashed what they feel was already a tight budget. "A few conditions have been set. The budget has been approved mentioning financial working procedures, management working procedures, work operation procedures of the ministry," an official told Setopati. "The allowances have also been fixed. Travel expenses are said to be made only as per regulations. The limit for expenses have been changed a bit."
The official added that the Election Commission will request the ministry to reconsider the approved budget. "Incentives for the staffers deployed for counting votes, travel allowance and in some instance it may even be (sic) not sufficient for food and accommodation while going to conduct election at some places."
There will be a massive cut in the fund for voter's education, procurement of vehicles, and allowances to the staffers as per the minsitry's conditions.
The Election Commission points that remuneration of the staffers and market price both have increased by around 40 percent since the last local election while the number of voters may also have increased by around 3.8 million.
The number of voting stations will be raised by around 400 and polling booths by 2,000 in comparison to the last election. Expenses for election materials and perks for staffers deployed for the main election works have been continued.
A total of Rs 700 million was spent on voters' education campaign in the last election but that has been limited at Rs 200 million this time.
The Election Commission had estimated expenses of around Rs 1 billion depending on the state of COVID pandemic but the budget in that head has also been slashed. Expenses will now be made only on basic minimum medical kits and masks.
There was massive demand for vehicles from the districts but that has also been stopped. Expenses on machines and equipment have also been slashed this time.
The largest expenses have to be incurred on printing of ballots and election materials. The Election Commission estimates that a total of around 300,000 candidates are set to contest in 6,743 wards of 753 local bodies.
The total number of voters is expected to rise to around 17.7 million. "The voter list has yet to be updated. We estimate it to rise by arounf 3.8 million," the Election Commission stated.
