Mahendranagar, 27 July.

The Election Commission has fined 79 candidates in Sudurpaschim province including Nepali Congress leaders Narayan Prakash Saud (NP Saud) and Ramesh Lekhak for the offense of not declaring election expenses.

The commission imposed a fine for violating the Election Act by not publishing the election expenditure details within the stipulated time. According to sub-section (4) of section 31 of the Election (Offences and Punishment) Act 2073, they were fined at the rate of 15 thousand rupees each, according to the statement issued by the commission. 11 lakh 85 thousand revenue will be raised in this province from all the candidates who did not publish the election expenditure details.

The commission instructed all the candidates who ran for the representative and state assembly member elections held on the 4th of March 079 to submit the election expenditure statement to the state or district election office within the time prescribed by the law.

However, 37 candidates for the House of Representatives in Far West and 42 candidates for the Provincial Assembly have not declared their election expenses, according to a statement published by the commission's spokesperson Shaligram Sharma Paudel.

Out of a total of 137 candidates for the House of Representatives, 100 have submitted their election expenses. Similarly, 150 of the 193 candidates for the provincial assembly have submitted their election expenditure details.

Saund and the writer, who was fined, won as a member of the House of Representatives from Kanchanpur. Saud is now a minister. Similarly, the Commission has fined Delhi Bahadur Shahi, Khem Subedi, Jagat Bahadur Sayer, Harina Devi Bhatt, Devraj Joshi of RSVP, Ramkisan Rana, Ashok Bahadur Singh, Jagdish Awasthi who contested from Kanchanpur.

Similarly, Veer Bahadur Bohra, Premsingh Badal, Lokraj Bhatt, Vidyadev Joshi, Durgadatta Pandey, Shardadevi Chand, Deepak Bahadur Singh, Subhash Singh Dhami, Madan Damai, Krishna Luhar, Sushiladevi Bista, and Ambadatta Tiwari have also been fined.

Vijay Singh Mayal, Naveen Kumar Bohra, Bhim Bahadur Thapamgar, Ram Bahadur Singh, and Satyaraj Upadhyay, who were nominated as members of the House of Representatives from Kailali, have been fined by the Commission.

Deo Bahadur Chand, Krishna Prasad Gosai, Mansingh Bisht, Keshav Bahadur Chand, Trilok Bahadur Chand, Prakash Chandra Bhat, Ansingh Bhandari, Krishna Bahadur Chand, Himmat Bahadur Chand and Narendra Bahadur Kunwar of CPN (Maoist Center) who contested from Baitadi have been fined.

According to sub-section (2) of Section 31 of the Election (Offenses and Punishment) Act, the commission had instructed to inform the state or district election office where they are candidates that the election expenditure details were published from 6th to 12th May. It is said that the candidates who do not publish the details within the specified time have been fined.

Also, the candidates who have been fined have been ordered to file the revenue and submit the application along with the receipt to the Election Commission or the relevant election office within 35 days.

Similarly, within seven days, it has been ordered to publish the election expenses and submit an application to the relevant election office. It is stated in the statement that candidates who do not pay the fine amount within the specified time will be barred from participating in the immediate election.

Likewise, the commission has mentioned that it has been decided to send the amount of the fine to the central tehsil office in writing to collect it as government debt.