National
Most candidates yet to furnish details: EC
A large number of candidates who contested the first two phases of the local level elections have yet to submit details of expenses they made during poll campaigns as provisioned in the law, according to the Election Commission (EC).Prithvi Man Shrestha
A large number of candidates who contested the first two phases of the local level elections have yet to submit details of expenses they made during poll campaigns as provisioned in the law, according to the Election Commission (EC).
As per Clause 25 of the Election Commission Act, the political parties or the candidates contesting the elections are required to submit details of the election expenses to the offices designated by the EC in specified format within 30 days of the publication of the final election results.
The District Election Office (DEOs) or the Regional Election Offices (REOs) have been designated under the Local Election Regulation to receive such details. “We have received very poor response from the candidates regarding their obligation to submit details of election expenses,” said Chief Election Commissioner Ayodhee Prasad Yadav.
According to the EC, 49,337 candidates contested the first phase of local elections held in provinces 3, 4 and 6 on May 14, with 62,408 competing in the race in the second phase held in provinces 1, 5 and 7 on June 28.
The deadlines for submitting the details of first and second phases of election expenses are already over, a majority of candidates have not yet come up with the details, officials at various District Election Offices informed the Post.
According to Sita Samba, chief of DEO, Lalitpur, only around half the total candidates have submitted their expenditure details. It has been more than four months since the local elections were held in Lalitpur.
The submission rate in Jhapa district has been as poor, where only 1,500 out of 3,340 candidates have turned in their expenditure details, according to DEO, Jhapa. The elections were held there on June 28.
“Some of those elected in the local elections have not yet submitted their expenditure details,” said Gopal Acharya, chief of DEO in Jhapa.
In Sindhuli, 654 out of 1,436 candidates have submitted the expenditure details to the DEO. “Candidates from even the major parties have not submitted the details yet,” said Ramesh Kumar Joshi, chief of the DEO in Sindhuli.
However, the DEO in Morang said that it has received expenditure details from most of the candidates. According to officials DEOs, all the candidates who
submitted details, have mentioned their expenditure was within the limit set by
the EC.
As per Election Commission Act, any party or candidate that fails to summit expenditure details is subjected to a fine equivalent to his or her expenditure or Rs500,000, whichever is more.
The EC can bar such party or candidate from participating in any elections up to six years if the law states.
Election Commissioner Ishwari Prasad Paudel said that the poll body would first seek clarification from those candidates who failed to submit the expenditure details. “We will take necessary action against them in line with the legal provision,” he said.