Elections are one of the most fundamental components of democracy and critical to ensure that democracy provides a good quality of life to the people by linking their interests to the government through their elected representatives. A competitive and transparent election process enables dialogue and debate on public issues and ensures representatives are responsive to the people’s well-being. Since many years, candidates and political parties have rarely published the exact amount of their election expenditures. The constitution promulgated in 2015, converted Nepal into a federal democratic republic and provisioned that parliamentary and local level elections would be held every 5 years.
Even though the candidates are required to submit their election expenses to the EC within 30 days of the elections, the implementation of this law has not been fully achieved owing to the irresponsibility of the contesting political leaders. The EC has decided to slap a fine of Rs. 15,000 to all the 2,435 candidates including 1,037 for HoR representatives, for not making public and submitting details of the election expenditures related to the elections held in November 2022 “EC fines erring candidates” (THT, July 26, Page 1).
The candidates or the political party that failed to pay the fine within the specified timeline can even be barred from contesting in the immediate election if held. Is it not a shame on them who never get tired of highly speaking about the importance of democracy?
Comments
Post a Comment