The commission has requested a budget of Rs 7.81 billion for the election, but the Ministry of Finance has approved only Rs 4.96 billion.
What you should know
The Election Commission has written to the Finance Ministry for a review after it made a major cut in the estimated budget requested for the House of Representatives elections. The commission has expressed dissatisfaction saying that the Ministry of Finance has made arbitrary cuts without consulting them.
The Commission has requested a budget of Rs 7.81 billion for the election, but the Finance Ministry has approved only Rs 4.96 billion. The Finance Ministry has cut the requested budget by almost 40 percent. The Commission had requested a budget on 7 Kartik by estimating the expenditure under 49 different headings. The Commission says that the budget was requested by analyzing the expenditure of previous elections. However, the ministry has reduced the estimated budget under every heading. It has not allocated any budget under some headings.
An official of the Commission said that there is a problem in adjusting the budget under the headings after the Finance Ministry approved the budget by reducing it by more than what was requested. ‘We have requested it to be frugal. However, it has also been approved by reducing it by a lot,’ the official said. ‘Even after it is approved, the Commission would have returned the unspent amount tomorrow. It has done so in the past. However, the cuts made by the government in the name of frugality at the beginning make it difficult for the Commission to work. It is not appropriate for the Commission, a constitutional body, to keep writing to the government for the budget again and again.’
The commission officials and employees have not wanted to speak formally regarding the budget. The commission officials have already lodged their complaints with the Prime Minister, Home Minister and Finance Minister. ‘The Finance Minister has assured that you will get the insufficient amount if you keep spending,’ said a source from the commission, ‘However, it is not good to be in a position to repeatedly appeal to the government for the budget during the election period.’
The commission has not yet been able to pay the prescribed allowance to the employees deployed across the country in the compilation of voter lists since 9 Asoj. That too should be paid from the budget allocated for election purposes. In the past, the compilation of voter lists used to be stopped after the election was announced. This time, that work was added.
The commission had demanded a budget of 320 million for election propaganda and voter education programs. However, the finance ministry has approved 50 million. Of the 210 million demanded under the heading of training for the employees deployed in the election, 60 million have been given. The budget has been reduced under all headings including printing of ballot papers, purchasing of materials, transportation of materials, lunch expenses of security personnel deployed at election centers, daily allowances of employees deployed at polling centers and volunteer expenses, facilities of employees deployed in vote counting, collection of ballot boxes.
The Ministry of Finance has also increased the number of ballot papers to be counted in one shift and reduced the facilities of employees deployed in the counting. The Commission had proposed that 3,000 votes will be counted in one shift for direct voting and 1,500 votes for proportional voting and accordingly, the employees deployed in the counting will be paid according to the shift.
The Ministry of Finance has said that the number of ballot papers to be counted in one shift for direct voting will be 3,500 and 2,000 for proportional voting. This may delay the counting process. A commissioner said that the Ministry of Finance has interfered in the work of determining by the Commission. ‘How many ballot papers should be counted in one shift? It is the job of the commission to determine that number,' he said, 'but, in the name of cutting the budget, money has interfered in that too.' The Ministry of Finance has written 'frugality' in the explanation of each heading while cutting the budget. Commission officials say that just writing that does not justify the budget cut.
Last time, elections were held for the House of Representatives and the Provincial Assembly. This time, there is no Provincial Assembly election. The Ministry of Finance estimates that the expenditure will be reduced due to the absence of the Provincial Assembly election. The commission received a budget of around 7.5 billion rupees in the previous election.
Commission officials, however, claim that there will not be a big difference in expenditure even if there is no Provincial Assembly election. 'The polling center is the same, two ballot boxes will be reduced in the polling center,' said an official of the commission, 'Some expenditure will be reduced in printing and counting ballot papers. The expenses for many other headings will remain the same.'
