KATHMANDU, FEBRUARY 19
President Bidhya Devi Bhandari's move to provide blanket amnesty to all the local level candidates who were fined for not submitting the poll expenditure details within the deadline by the Election Commission (EC) has drawn flak from lawyers.
It is a rare case where a President has waived fines on persons, although there is a practice of commuting or waiving the sentences of prisoners. By doing so, hasn't the President undermined the independence of the judiciary, given that the case is subjudice.
On Wednesday, the constitutional bench of the Supreme Court had stayed the EC decision to slap hefty fines on candidates on a writ petition filed by the Mayor of Kathmandu Metropolitan City (KMC) Balen Shah. In the petition, he had demanded that Sections 26 (3) and 26 (5) of the Election Commission Act, which have given powers to the EC to take punitive action against the candidates, be declared null and void as they contradict the constitution. Now that the President has granted amnesty to all erring local level candidates, the question remains, is it necessary for the apex court to give a verdict on the case?
The EC had imposed blanket fines on 123,624 candidates. They included 114,958 candidates who did not submit their election expenditure at all as well as 8,666 candidates who had submitted their poll expenditure details within the deadline. KMC's Mayor claims he had submitted his expenditure details within the stipulated timeframe. However, there were 136 candidates who had paid the fines amounting to Rs 45 million. They did so because, as per the act, the EC can bar candidates who fail to submit the fines within six months from contesting the elections for the next six years. It thus remains to be seen if the fines they have paid will be returned as the President has granted pardon to the candidates who have yet to pay the fines, as per the recommendation of the Cabinet meeting held on Thursday, but "makes no mention about those who have paid them already".
The fines are rather steep, with mayoral candidates slapped a hefty Rs 750, 000 for not submitting the poll expenditures on time – an amount equal to the expenditure ceiling approved by the EC. If the EC had gotten its way, it would have collected fines worth an astronomical 24 billion rupees. This begs the question, why the difference in the fine between a local level candidate and a provincial assembly or federal parliamentary candidate? Thus, the laws regarding the fines for the local level candidates are not just and need a rethink. After all, the candidates have not committed a heinous crime or one involving moral turpitude. Some dalit candidates, who were living in squatter settlements, have said that they simply cannot pay the fines. Also, one can vouch for it that no candidate has given the exact expenditure details, as it is not possible to contest an election within the expenditure ceiling fixed by the EC. The submission of the expenditure details is no more than formality and doesn't help curb the huge expenses that go into the poll campaigns. However, no matter how unfair the laws, the candidates should have been aware and abided by them as the common people learn from and imitate their leaders.
Following the pardon, is it necessary for the apex court to give a verdict on the case?
A version of this article appears in the print on February 20, 2023, of The Himalayan Times.
