KATHMANDU, Jan 23: The State Affairs Sub-Committee (SASC) under the Legislature-Parliament on Monday suggested that the government announce the election date in consultation with the Election Commission (EC).
A meeting of the Sub-Committee held in Singha Durbar today has tweaked the election-related bills making it mandatory for the political parties and election candidates to submit the expenditure details spent in the course of election.
According to the changes made by the Sub-Committee in the Bill, Clause (2) of the revised Bill Designed to Amend and Integrate Laws Related to the Works, Duties and Responsibilities of the Election Commission-2016, the political parties and election candidates cannot spend more than Rs 500,000 as election expenditure during the elections.
EC should be vested with authority to announce election date: C...
If the expenditure is found to have exceeded the ceiling of Rs 500,000, the concerned candidates or the political parties will be penalized with a fine equivalent to the expenditure as indicated by the audit report or of Rs 500,000.
Similarly, the Election Commission will bar such political parties or the candidates to take part in the election for six years, disqualifying him as an election candidate if the parties or the candidates failed to submit the expenditure details within six months from the date of audit report.
The Sub-Committee had been given 15 days to carry out detailed study of these three proposed bills - the Bill Designed to Amend and Integrate Laws Related to the Works, Dities and Responsibilities of the Election Commission-2016; the Bill Designed to Amend and Integrate Laws Related to the Political Parties -2016 and the Bill Designed to Amend and Integrate Laws Related to the Voters List-2016 and give suggestions to the committee.
The Sub-Committee led by Ananda Dhungana has Ishwari Neupane and Ram Krishna Yadav representing the Nepali Congress, Ganga Lal Tuladhar, Man Prasad Khatri and Rameshwar Phuyal from the CPN (UML), Rekha Sharma and Santa Kumar Darai from the CPN (Maoist Center), Dharmendra Sah Teli from the Tarai-Madhes-centric parties, Bikram Bahadur Thapa from the Rastriya Prajatantra Party and Prem Suwal from the Nepal Workers and Peasants Party are members.
