KATHMANDU, March 13: A joint preliminary election observation report has found a lack of transparency in the campaign spending of candidates in the House of Representatives elections.
The report, prepared jointly by the National Election Observation Committee (NEOC) and the Election Observation Committee Nepal (EOC Nepal), states that there is a significant gap between the legal spending limits and the actual campaign expenditures.
According to the report, candidates were found to have spent millions of rupees beyond the ceiling set by the Election Commission (EC) during the election campaign.
Speaking at a press conference on Friday, NEOC Chair Dr Gopal Krishna Siwakoti said a separate detailed study on election campaign spending and campaign methods would be published.
EC limits election spending for parties, candidates
For candidates contesting under the first-past-the-post (FPTP) system, the maximum spending limit was set at Rs 3.3 million, depending on the constituency’s geography. Under the proportional representation (PR) system, the spending limit for candidates was set at around Rs 200,000.
However, the report found that in high-profile constituencies, the actual campaign expenses significantly exceeded the limit set by the commission. In other constituencies as well, candidates were found to have spent up to ten times more than the prescribed limit, Siwakoti said.
The report also highlights the growing reliance on digital campaigning as a challenge to maintaining transparency in election spending.
After candidate nominations were filed, there was a notable rise in the demand for social media managers, content creators, and digital campaign services, with fees for such services sometimes reaching hundreds of thousands of rupees. However, these expenses are often not included in official expenditure reports, contributing to what the report calls “invisible spending.”
The EC had collaborated with social media platforms such as Meta and TikTok to monitor digital campaigning. It also used specialized software to track social media and digital content with technical support from the United Nations Development Programme and The Asia Foundation, the report states.
Despite these efforts, advertising expenses on social media remain largely opaque, said EOC Nepal Chair advocate Shrikrishna Subedi.
“This financial gap is not merely a transparency issue; it is a structural barrier that systematically excludes women and Dalit candidates, as well as those without access to donor networks, from meaningful competition,” he said.
The report also notes that stakeholders generally retain a high level of trust in the Election Commission, but it points to limited voter education and unequal access to information in remote areas as ongoing challenges observed during the election.
