Poll expense report a must by Jan 31
The Election Commission (EC) yesterday directed the returning officers (ROs) of the recently held national polls to take legal action against the candidates who would not submit their election expenditure reports by January 31.
The EC Secretariat will also send forms to the political parties soon seeking reports on their election expenditure within 90 days from publication of results in official gazette.
If any of the contesting candidates fails to submit election expenditure report within the stipulated time, they might be punished with rigorous imprisonment for three to seven years as per the electoral laws.
The EC also asked the ROs, who are also the deputy commissioners, to report by February 7 specifying the action taken against the defaulters, EC Secretariat sources said.
As per the provisions of the Representation of the People Order (RPO), the candidates will have to submit reports on election expenditure within 30 days after publication of the election results in gazette. The EC published names of the winning candidates in official gazette on January 1.
The candidates will have to submit the reports to the ROs, who will forward the copies to EC.
Many candidates who contested in the previous parliamentary elections did not submit such reports and those who obeyed the laws did not properly maintain their expenditure records.
But EC had never initiated steps against violation of the electoral laws. This time, EC has decided to take action against the violators and will also check authenticity of the submitted expenditure reports, official sources said.
Besides, political parties contesting in the polls might be fined for failure to submit the expenditure records within the deadline.
Comments