None of 12 parties filed expense reports yet

None of the 12 political parties including the Awami League that contested in the January 5 general elections has submitted the statement of their election expenditures till yesterday, one week past the deadline.
The Election Commission (EC) has taken an initiative to issue a notice of warning to the parties asking for the reports immediately, said EC sources.
"We have drafted the notice...If approved, we will send it to the parties by Monday or Tuesday," a senior assistant secretary of the EC Secretariat told The Daily Star.
According to electoral laws, each political party participating in the national election will have to submit the expense report to the EC within 90 days after completion of polls.
If any party defaults, the commission will issue a notice of warning seeking the statement within next 30 days. If it fails again, the commission may extend the deadline by 15 days with a Tk 10,000 fine.
The commission may cancel the registration of the party for yet another failure.
"In the notice, we have mentioned the laws and directed the parties to submit the reports within the extended time," said a deputy secretary of the EC.
The first deadline expired on April 22, said an assistant secretary of the commission.
The 11 other political parties are Jatiya Party (JP), Jatiya Party (JP-Manju), Gonotontri Party, Bangladesh National Awami Party, Workers' Party of Bangladesh, Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal, Bangladesh Tarikat Federation, Gonofront, Bangladesh Khelafat Majlish, Bangladesh Islami Front, and Bangladesh Nationalist Front (BNF).
As per electoral law, a political party can spend a maximum of Tk 4.5 crore, if it fields more than 200 candidates, Tk 3 crore if the number is between 100 and 200, Tk 1.5 crore if it has 50 to 100 candidates, and Tk 75 lakh if the number is below 50.
CANDIDATES' EXPENDITURE
Ten out of 543 candidates in the January 5 elections are yet to submit their expenditure statements though the deadline ended over two and a half months ago, said EC officials.
Of them, Shawkat Momen Shahjahan, ex-lawmaker of Tangail-8 constituency, died on January 20, while the remaining nine stand to face legal action for non-compliance.
The candidates are JP Chairman HM Ershad, Joynal Abedin (JP-Manju), Mahmudur Rahman Mahmud (JP), Belal Hossain (JP), AKM Sharifuddin (independent), Shafiqur Rahman (JP), SM Abdur Razzak (JSD), Hedayetul Islam (independent), and Ashraf Hossain (BNF).
As per law, a candidate can spend a maximum of Tk 25 lakh for fighting in each constituency.