Kathmandu Mayor Balen Shah has moved the Supreme Court (SC) against the Election Commission’s fine of Rs 750,000 for not submitting details of election expenses in time.
Shah has registered his petition with the constitutional bench of SC on Tuesday.
The Election Commission had slapped a fine of Rs 750,000 on Shah in September 2022 for not submitting details of the expenditure incurred during his victorious election campaign. A total of 123,624 victorious and losing candidates in the local election were fined by the Election Commission.
The Election Commission said that the candidates violated the clause 26(1) of the Election Commission Act requiring candidates to submit expenditure details within 30 days of election result.
The candidates who were defeated will not get to become candidate while the elected ones will lose their post if they don't pay the fines within six months.
Shah has claimed that he had submitted the expenditure details in time in his petition.
The candidates were required to submit the details by June 25 2022 (30 days) which fell on Saturday. Shah has argued that he submitted the details the next day as Saturday is public holiday. The Election Commission, however, remained open even on Saturdays during that period.
Shah has pointed that he spent only Rs 394,489 in his campaign well below the Election Commission’s ceiling of Rs 750,000. He has also contended that he and many more have suffered injustice at the hands of Election Commission.
