Proposed Chief Election Commissioner Proposes State Funding for Political Parties

Kathmandu. Proposed Chief Election Commissioner Man Bahadur Karki has proposed providing grants from the state treasury to keep political parties free from private donations and financial influence. Presenting his work plan in the parliamentary hearing committee of the federal parliament, Karki said that such a policy is necessary to remove parties from the dependency of donations and to create an environment for equal competition in elections.

Karki has put forward the concept of providing grants to parties from the public fund under point number 4.6 of his work plan, regarding the management and coordination of political party registration. He has written in his work plan, 'To free political parties from the dependency of donations and to promote fair competition, necessary legal and policy facilitation will be done to provide grants from the public fund based on the votes received in the last election and other universally acceptable indicators.'