KATHMANDU: Acting Chief Election Commissioner Ram Prasad Bhandari has said that elections should be policy-oriented rather than money-oriented.

Addressing a program organized by the Election Commission on ‘Election Campaign Expenditure Management and Promoting a Safe Environment for Women in Elections’, he emphasized that parties and candidates should be mobilized by giving priority to policy.

He recalled that in 2043 BS, Rup Chandra Bista won the election by collecting funds from the people along with his policies and programs for the people.He also said that nine such candidates won at that time.

“If the election expenditure limit is exceeded, action will be taken up to the point of cancellation of the candidacy. On Sunday alone, the Commission has released 63 points of Dos and Don’ts to be followed while campaigning for the election.”

Also speaking at the event, former Chief Election Commissioner Bhojraj Pokharel recalled that the first Constituent Assembly election in 2064 BS was held by formulating new laws compared to the previous laws.

As expenses made during elections have become a means of increasing corruption in the country, the Commission’s initiative to reform the election expenditure is positive.

Secretary of the Commission Krishna Bahadur Raut said that elections are a basic principle of democracy and that the parties and candidates participating in the election should make their expenditure transparent.