KATHMANDU, JULY 17
The Election Commission has slapped fines ranging from Rs 7,000 to Rs 20,000 on political parties that failed to submit their audit report within the allocated time.
The meeting of the Election Commission today imposed fines on parties that did not submit the audit report on time.
Election Commission Spokesperson and Joint Secretary Shaligram Paudel informed that the decision was taken to impose fine on political parties which did not submit the audit report or submitted it late, at the meeting today.
Paudel said it had been decided to warn and impose fine on political parties that did not comply with the provisions of the law in accordance with Section 54 of the Political Parties Act, 2016.
A fine of Rs 20,000 has been imposed on eight parties that did not submit the report on time and did not respond with an explanation, while a fine of Rs 7,000 has been imposed on 39 parties which did not submit the report within the specified time after making the audit public.
Likewise, fines of Rs 15,000 have been imposed on four political parties that did not submit reports and Rs 15,000 on two parties that did not submit audits for two financial years.
Similarly, the EC has sought explanation from some political parties.
According to Section 41 of the Act on Political Parties 2016, the parties must conduct an audit within six months of the end of the financial year and submit a report to the EC within one month of that period.
The EC has fined Rs 7,000 on Nepal Samajwadi Party led by Baburam Bhattarai, Aam Janata Party led by Prabhu Sah and Nagrik Unmukti Party led by Minister of Land Management, Cooperatives, and Poverty Alleviation Ranjita Shrestha.
The decision to impose fines was taken after they did not submit the audit report to the EC on time.
The party led by former prime minister Bhattarai, incumbent Minister Shrestha and Prabhu Sah submitted the audit report to the EC only after the stipulated time had passed. Therefore, it has been decided to fine eight political parties Rs 7,000, including their parties.
Other parties that have been fined Rs 7,000 are Bahujan Ekta Party Nepal, Nepali Greens Party, Nepal Aama Party, Janata Pragatishil Party, Nepalwad Party and Sanghiya Khambuwan Loktantrik Party.
EC Spokesperson Paudel informed that the amount of fine set by the EC today should be paid by the related parties within 35 days. According to him, the EC has also decided to bar political parties that do not pay the fine within the specified 35 days from participating in an election.
A version of this article appears in the print on July 18, 2023, of The Himalayan Times.
