It is estimated that about 90 percent of the Rs 19.62 billion allocated by the Finance Ministry for the management and security of the House of Representatives elections held on Thursday, March 21, has been spent. Since about 90 percent of the allocated amount was spent in the previous two elections, the Finance Ministry estimates that the same amount will be spent this year as well.

It is not possible to estimate the expenditure right now, said Finance Ministry spokesperson Tanka Prasad Pandey. "In the previous two elections - local and House of Representatives elections, 90.80 and 91.37 percent of the amount given for the expenditure has been spent, respectively," he said. "This year, we have tried to make the expenditure very economical. Therefore, it is initially estimated that the expenditure will be around the same, if not less than last year."

The Finance Ministry estimates that the election expenses will be covered from within the allocated amount as the main spending bodies for the elections, the Election Commission, the Ministry of Defense and the Ministry of Home Affairs, have given sufficient discussions and given source consent.

The Ministry of Home Affairs and the Ministry of Defense had sent a proposal to the Ministry of Finance to manage a resource of about 20.5 billion rupees for election security. A proposal was sent to the Ministry of Finance for the necessary budget by estimating the expenditure required for the Nepal Army, Nepal Police, Armed Police Force (APF), National Investigation Department and Election Police.

However, the Ministry of Finance had initially released a total of Rs 19.10 billion. Out of this, Rs 6.72 billion was allocated to the Election Commission, Rs 10.39 billion to the Ministry of Home Affairs (Nepal Police, Armed Police Force and District Administration Office) and Rs 1.99 billion to the Nepal Army (Ministry of Defense).

After the Armed Police Force and Nepal Police stated that the budget was insufficient, the Ministry of Finance had added an additional Rs 520 million. Of the additional Rs 520 million, Rs 490 million was allocated to the Armed Police Force and Rs 30 million to the Nepal Police, according to a Finance Ministry source. The mentioned amount was raised from the current expenditure heading and miscellaneous expenses of this year's budget, said Pandey, spokesperson for the Ministry of Finance.

The government has also received assistance from various countries and agencies for this year's elections. Accordingly, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) has spent on various voter literacy programs with the permission of the government, in collaboration with the Election Commission. This assistance was not received by the government in cash but was provided by UNDP directly in collaboration with the Election Commission. The Ministry of Finance has stated that Japan has provided Rs 390 million and China Rs 560 million for election purposes through the budget system. This amount was received by the government and spent by the Ministry of Finance through the budgetary system. The Government of India has provided in-kind assistance for the election. Accordingly, 650 vehicles and the remaining security equipment have been received. It is said that 150 of the vehicles received are large vehicles (trucks) and the rest are Scorpio and Bolero. The Central Security Committee meeting has recruited 147,000 election police (formerly temporary police) for election security. It was decided to allocate Rs 9.15 billion for the election police, including remuneration, uniform and ration allowance, transportation expenses, lunch allowance, etc., with a 40-day working period.

Earlier, a budget of Rs 18.548 billion was released for the 2079 BS House of Representatives and Provincial Assembly elections. Of this, Rs 8.35 billion 2 billion was released to the Election Commission, Rs 8.72 billion 73 million to the Ministry of Home Affairs and Rs 977 million 73 million to the Ministry of Defense. However, the Ministry of Finance has stated that only Rs 16.49 billion 73 million was spent on the election. This is 91.37 percent of the total released amount.

Of the released amount, the Election Commission spent Rs 8.81 billion 32 million (81.59 percent), the Ministry of Home Affairs spent Rs 8.70 billion 68 million (99.77 percent) and the Ministry of Defense spent Rs 977 million (100 percent).

In the fiscal year 2078/79, the government released a budget of Rs 13.31 billion 54 million for local elections. 90.80 percent of the released amount was spent. In the fiscal year 2078/79, Rs 6.14 billion 99 million was allocated to the Election Commission, Rs 6.53 billion 47 million to the Ministry of Home Affairs and Rs 630 million 8 million to the Ministry of Defense.

According to the Ministry of Finance, at that time, the Election Commission spent 4.96 billion 31 million (80.70 percent), the Ministry of Home Affairs spent 6.49 billion 78 million (99.43 percent), and the Ministry of Defense spent 628.9 million (99.70 percent).