The Election Commission has served notice on 289 independent contestants of the 2014 general elections for failing to furnish their election expenditure accounts.
All of them contested polls to the Telangana and Andhra Pradesh Assemblies as also Parliament but did not submit the election expenditure within the stipulated period.
If the EC was not satisfied with their explanation, they were likely to be disqualified from contesting further polls for a period of eight years from 2014, sources said and added that 171 of them were from Telangana and 118 from Andhra Pradesh.
The notices were served by the office of the Chief Electoral Officer here on the directions of the Election Commission of India which would take a formal decision for disqualifying them, sources added.
In Telangana, Hyderabad (GHMC) area topped with 38 candidates (11 MP candidates and 27 MLA candidates) who failed to furnish the expenditure accounts. It was followed by Mahabubnagar, Ranga Reddy, Karimnagar, Nalgonda and Khammam districts. In AP, maximum defaults were reported from East Godavari district with 31candidates, including two who contested for the Lok Sabha. West Godavari district came next with 15 defaulters, Kurnool 13, Krishna 12, and Kadapa 12.
Sources said that majority of candidates who were to be disqualified were non-serious candidates who entered the fray apparently to be helpful to various party candidates.
