Kathmandu, March 14:

The Election Commission (EC) today told the Supreme Court that it has spent about Rs 540 million for poll activities since last October and that it has been receiving only technical and logistic support from other countries.

Submitting a written explanation on the financial details of the commission to the apex court in response to its show cause, Chief Election Commissioner Bhoj Raj Pokhrel today said all the expenditure was done from the budget allocated by the government.

“The EC has received technical and logistic support from different countries. It has not taken any cash support from the donors,” Pokhrel said.

The SC had issued show cause notice after the chairman of Freedom Forum Taranath Dahal moved the court claiming that the EC rejected to provide financial details of its activities, thereby violating the Right to Information.

“We have received logistic and technical supports from countries, including the US, the UK, India, China, Japan, Denmark, Australia, Canada, Norway and Korea,” Pokhrel said. He said the EC has not sought any financial support from any donor.

The CEC also informed the court that all political parties that had registered with the EC are contesting the CA polls as per the provision in Article 142 (5) of the Interim Constitution.

He, however, rejected to make public the names of those who had given their signatures while registering the political parties with the EC. “The EC cannot violate their right to secrecy by making public the information,” Pokhrel added.