Supreme Court issues interim order against EC’s decision to fine candidates

KATHMANDU: The Supreme Court (SC) has taken action by issuing an interim order to halt the implementation of the Election Commission’s (EC) decision to impose a fine of Rs. 15,000 on candidates who failed to disclose their election expenditure details.

The order was issued in response to a writ petition filed by Binodmani Bhattarai, a House of Representatives candidate from Morang-2 representing the Hamro Nepali Party. The Single Bench of Justice Bishowambhar Prasad Shrestha presided over the hearing and directed the Commission not to enforce the fine against candidates until a final verdict is reached.

Advocates Bhimarjun Acharya and Laban Neupane presented the petitioner’s arguments in court.

The Election Commission had made the decision to levy the Rs. 15,000 fine on candidates who did not publish their expenditure details related to the House of Representatives and Provincial Assembly elections that took place on November 20.

In a press release issued on July 25, the Commission listed the candidates who had not provided information about their expenditure details. The decision to impose fines affected 1,037 House of Representatives candidates and 1,398 Provincial Assembly candidates.

However, the implementation of this fine has been put on hold pending the final verdict from the Supreme Court.