KATHMANDU, Feb 18: President Bidya Devi Bhandari has granted amnesty to all local level candidates, who were fined by the Election Commission (EC) for failing to submit the details of their election expenses on time.
According to the Office of the President, the decision was made as per the recommendation made by the cabinet meeting in accordance with Article 276 of the Constitution of Nepal, 2015. A cabinet meeting held on Thursday had decided to write to President Bhandari to grant waiver of the fine amount slapped by the EC to 123, 650 candidates.
The EC had slapped them Rs 24.63 billion in fine for failing to submit details of the expenses made during the local level election held on May 13, 2022. As per the Election Commission Act, candidates are required to furnish such details within 30 days of the final result of the election.
EC fines 2,435 candidates for failing to submit election expens...
Article 276 of the Constitution of Nepal, 2015 states that the president may, in accordance with law, grant pardon, suspend, commute or remit any sentence passed by any court, judicial or quasi-judicial institution or administrative authority or institution.
The decision of President Bhandari comes in the wake of the Supreme Court (SC) issuing an interim order not to implement the decision of the EC to charge fine for not submitting election expenditure on time to 123, 650 candidates of the local level poll. The apex court on Wednesday issued the order in response to a writ petition filed by Mayor of Kathmandu Metropolitan City (KMC) Balen Shah against the EC’s move.
The apex court’s order had given relief to the candidates of rural municipalities, municipalities, sub-metropolitan and metropolitan electorates. Earlier, the EC had decided to impose a fine of Rs 750,000 on the candidates for the mayor of the metropolitan city. However, SC has issued an interim order not to implement the decision of EC for the time being.
The EC had decided that the fine amount should be paid within six months (i.e. by mid-March). The EC had also decided to ban participation of the candidates failing to submit election expense details on time in any election for six years if the fine was not paid.
Clause 25 of the Election Commission Act, makes it mandatory for the political parties or the candidates contesting the polls to submit details of their election expenses to the office designated by the polls body within 30 days of the publication of the final election results. The EC has designated district election offices or the regional election officers to receive the details of the expenses.
The interim order of the apex court has concluded that the provision in the Election Commission Act is in conflict with the constitution. The apex court has maintained that since the provisions in sections 25 and 26 of the Act are in conflict with the constitution these should be addressed properly through judicial means.
