Kathmandu, Feb 7: The Election Commission has clarified that candidates and political parties may accept voluntary support from well-wishers for election purposes, but are not allowed to solicit donations by fixing specific amounts.
Commission spokesperson Narayan Prasad Bhattarai said there is no legal obstacle to collecting support for election campaigning as long as it remains within the limits set by existing laws.
He said candidates or parties cannot ask anyone to donate a fixed amount.
“If someone wants to contribute voluntarily, the candidate or party may provide the account number of the election purpose account. But they cannot demand a specific amount from anyone,” Bhattarai said.
He added that candidates are required to open a separate bank account for election expenses and money collected in that account cannot be used for personal purposes.
“The funds collected are strictly for election campaigning. Since a separate account is used, it should be trusted that the money is not collected for personal use and will not be misused. If misuse occurs, it will be addressed,” he said.
Bhattarai said a total of 84.4 million ballot papers have already been printed. Of these, 7,137 ballot boxes have been packed.
According to the commission, ballot printing and packing for 32 districts have been fully completed so far.
The commission said printing and management of ballot papers for the remaining districts are continuing at a rapid pace.
People’s News Monitoring Service
Comments:
Leave a Reply