BNP asked to report in detail, 9 parties warned
The Election Commission (EC) has refused to accept the poll expenditure report of BNP, terming it "incomplete", and asked the party to submit details of Tk 4.49 crore expenditures with relevant documents by April 30.
The commission also has warned nine more parliamentary parties of legal actions for failing to submit their election expenditure reports within this month, sources in the EC Secretariat said.
Of these parties, Jatiya Party, Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal and Liberal Democratic Party have representation in the ninth parliament constituted following the December 29 national ballots.
The EC may cancel registration of a political party for not submitting election expenditure report.
BNP, the main opposition in the ninth parliament, submitted its poll expenditure report on March 31, the last date for the submission. The one-page report contained only some major heads of the party's poll spending and no details of expenditure of Tk 4.49 crore. It also has no information about the party's electoral fund.
The report says the party nominated 259 candidates and gave Tk 1.20 crore to its nominees but does not mention the names of the recipients. The other major areas of BNP's expenditure include Tk 1.84 crore for publicity, Tk 63 lakh for transportation, Tk 13 lakh for public rallies, and Tk 18 lakh for party workers.
The BNP did not submit any document in support of its expenditures and also did not mention the sources of the money it had received as donations to raise the electoral fund.
In a letter to BNP Secretary General Khandaker Delwar Hossain sent Wednesday afternoon, the EC asked the party to submit its poll expenditure report in details attaching necessary documents, officials in the EC Secretariat said.
The commission also asked Bangladesh Jatiya Party, National People's Party and Muslim League (Khair), which submitted incomplete expenditure reports, to submit detailed report on their poll spending.
Freedom Party, Krishak Sramik Janata League, Samyabadi Dal, Tarikat Federation, Gonofront and Islami Front Bangladesh had not submitted their expenditure reports and the EC sent letters to them on Wednesday, asking for detailed information.
Thirty-eight registered political parties contested the ninth parliamentary elections, of which 29 submitted their accounts of expenditure to the EC by March 31.
According to the Representation of the People Order, a political party that contests parliamentary polls will have to submit its election expenditure report within 90 days of publication of polls results in the official gazette. The report must mention the amount of money the party received as donation.
Results of the ninth parliamentary election were published in the official gazette on January 1 and the last date for submission of expenditure reports was March 31.
If parties fail to submit the reports even in an extended period of 30 days, the EC might give another 15 days to do so with fines. And finally, the EC may cancel registration of parties that do not submit their expenditure reports.
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