Nepal, June 26 -- Despite spending substantially more money on election campaigning, many candidates failed to secure victory in the March 5 House of Representatives elections, according to a recent study that also found widespread breaches of legal spending limits.

The study conducted by the Election Observation Committee (EOC) found that candidates who lost the election spent nearly three times more on campaigning than those who secured victory, raising concerns over transparency of campaign finance.

The study, which examined the expenditures of 144 candidates from 10 constituencies out of a total of 3,406 contestants, showed that winning candidates spent an average of Rs 8.8 million during the campaign. In contrast, runners-up spent...