KATHMANDU, AUGUST 04
The Supreme Court has stayed the Election Commission's decision to impose fine of Rs 15,000 on Binod Mani Bhattarai for allegedly failing to make his election expenditure details public. A single bench of Justice Bishowambhar Prasad Shrestha stayed the EC decision to impose fine on Bhattarai apart from issuing a show cause notice to the EC.
Bhattarai had contested parliamentary elections from Morang Constituency 2 on Hamro Nepali Party ticket, but lost the election.
The court observed that it was issuing an interim order keeping in mind the balance of convenience. Bhattarai had submitted his election expenditure details to Provincial Election Office, Biratnagar, on December 18 in accordance with Section 72 (4) of the House of Representatives Election Act, 2017.
The EC had slapped fine on candidates failing to make their election expenditure details public within the stipulated time in accordance with Section 31 (2) of the Election (Offence and Punishment) Act.
Constitutional expert Bhimarjun Acharya who pleaded on behalf of Bhattarai told THT that although the SC order was in response to the writ petition his client filed, it would serve as a guidance for any other candidate who was aggrieved by the EC decision and sought legal remedy. He said Bhattarai had complied with the election laws and he had also made his election expenditure details public, yet the EC fined him without any basis. Acharya said that while the provisions requiring candidates to submit their election expenditure details and make them public within the stipulated time was aimed at ensuring transparency on the part of the candidate and promoting fiscal discipline and discouraging candidates from running expensive election campaign, the EC lacked merit to punish those candidates that had already submitted their election expenditure details to the provincial election office.
Candidates cannot be expected to submit their details to the EC in Kathmandu. It is okay if candidates submit their details in any level of the EC office, Acharya argued. He said imposing fine on his client showed lack of coordination between the EC and its subordinate agencies.
On July 25, the Election Commission had imposed fine on 2,435 candidates - 1,037 parliamentary candidates and 1,398 provincial candidates - for failing to make their election expenditure details public. A total of 74 candidates - 37 parliamentary and 37 provincial candidates - did not submit their election expenditure details to the EC.
A version of this article appears in the print on August 5, 2023, of The Himalayan Times.
