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The Election Commission has appointed monitoring officers to oversee the election expenditure of the political parties and candidates during the March 5 elections.The Election Commission is collecting information on whether political parties and their candidates have received financial assistance during the election campaign.

The Election Commission has designated the Chief Treasury Controller of the Financial Comptroller General Office as the Election Code of Conduct Monitoring Officer, with specific terms and conditions to monitor political finance and election expenses. The monitoring of expenditure of the candidates has become a difficult task as candidates are spending money bypassing the official channel.

The terms require the preparation of verified details, in accordance with Section 26 of the Election (Offences and Punishment) Act, 2017, on whether any political party, candidate, election representative, public office holder, or other person has used or misused government employees or public property. They also mandate the collection of necessary information under Section 27 of the same Act to determine whether political parties, candidates, or election representatives have received any kind of financial assistance from government or public bodies or non-governmental organizations for election campaigning in violation of prevailing election laws. 

Similarly, information must be collected pursuant to Section 29 to verify whether political parties or candidates have kept their election campaign expenses within the limits prescribed by the Commission, and under Section 30 to ascertain whether any financial assistance has been received for prohibited activities during election campaigns. The terms further require periodic inspection and verification of expenses incurred by candidates for stage preparation while organizing corner meetings or mass meetings for election campaigning, in line with Section 13 of the Election Code of Conduct, 2025. 

In addition, verified details must be prepared under Sub-section (1) of Section 16 of the Election Code of Conduct, 2025, to check whether political parties have opened a separate bank or financial institution account for election-related expenses and whether such expenses have been made from that account by an authorized official designated by the party. 

Likewise, under Clause (b) of the same section, it must be verified whether candidates within the district have opened a separate bank or financial institution account and conducted election expenses through that account, and under Clause (c), whether candidates have appointed a responsible official to incur election-related expenses on their behalf. If immediate action is required in relation to any of these matters, necessary steps must be taken in coordination with the Chairperson of the District Code of Conduct Monitoring Committee. 

Finally, district-wise fortnightly reports must be submitted to both the District and Central Code of Conduct Monitoring Committees on the accuracy of election expense statements of political parties or candidates, the legality of collected financial contributions, and the actions taken to implement the Election Code of Conduct.