Poll candidates yet to submit expense details

Rajbiraj, June 22

Defying the legal provision that requires election candidates to submit the details of their campaign expenses within 35 days after the polls, some 5,186 election candidates in Saptari haven’t submitted such details so far.

Some 5,681 candidates — 52 in the parliamentary elections, 100 in the provincial elections and 5,529 in the local level elections — had taken part in the last year’s local, parliamentary and provincial elections in the district.

As per the sources with the district election office, 27 candidates who contested the parliamentary elections, 78 contesting the provincial elections and 5,081local election candidates haven’t submitted the details of their election expenses.

The ones who haven’t submitted the details of election expenses include then CPN-UML candidate Tarakanta Chaudhary. He lost to his brother Chandrakanta Chaudhary, who represented Rastriya Janata Party in the parliamentary elections last year. Besides, most of the candidates of Naya Shakti Party-Nepal and Bibeksheel Sajha Party have also not submitted the details.

According to District Election Officer Dilip Kumar Yadav, hardly any candidate has come forward to submit the details of their election expenses despite a repeated reminder from his office.

As per the law of the land, the Election Commission can impose a fine of Rs 15,000 on the candidate or the party concerned for failing to submit the details of the income and expenses during the election on time.