The third National Assembly Elections will cost the Election Commission of Bhutan (ECB) an estimated Nu 500 M.
A major chunk of more than Nu 225 M will go into covering expenditures of the election officials, including their daily allowances, transportation, telecommunication and meals, during the elections.
The ECB will depute 3706 election officials for the national assembly elections.
It has been reduced by 1913 from 5619 deployed during the National Council elections held earlier this year.
The commission’s spokesperson said they reviewed the past numbers and reduced the election officials to cut down the costs. They have removed the polling assistants for the National Assembly elections this year. Also, there will be no presiding officers in polling stations with less than 250 registered voters.
Of 865 polling stations, 191 polling stations have less than 250 registered voters.
The four political parties will be taking a little over Nu 7 M as party fund during the primary round.
In the general round, each candidate of the two political parties will be provided with Nu 150,000 as a campaign fund.
The provisional budget also includes expenses for the security personnel from the Royal Bhutan Police (RBP) and Royal Bhutan Army (RBA).
