The Election Commission has slapped show cause notices on 15 political parties including main opposition BJP, RJD and JD(S) for failing to furnish details of expenses incurred by them during the last Lok Sabha elections.
The parties have been asked to reply by April 29 to the notices which were served on April 16, the EC said on Friday.
The other parties which have not submitted the statements related to poll expenses are All India Forward Bloc, Arunachal Congress, Jammu & Kashmir National Panthers Party, Jharkhand Mukti Morcha, Manipur People’s Party and Mizo National Front.
Tamil Nadu-based Pattali Makkal Katchi, Puducherry Munnetra Congress, Revolutionary Socialist Party, United Democratic Party, National People’s Party and Zoram Nationalist Party have also not complied with the EC directive.
In the notice, the EC has asked why action should not be taken against these parties under the provisions of the Election Symbols (Reservation and Allotment) Order 1968.
It said if no reply is received by April 29, it would be presumed that the parties have nothing to say in the matter and the EC would take appropriate action against them.
The EC cited the Supreme Court judgement of 1996 which held that the poll panel could require the political parties to submit, for its scrutiny, the details of the expenditure incurred by them in connection with the election of their candidates. It reminded the parties that the details should have been filed within a period of 90 days after the completion of the elections.
Despite repeated reminders, the parties have not submitted the requisite statements till date, the EC said.
So far 31 political parties have submitted their statement of expenses to it.
