As many as 8,750 candidates who stood for elections to various local bodies in November 2015 have been disqualified by the State Election Commission.
A press note issued here on Wednesday said these persons have been disqualified for not submitting details of election expenses and for exceeding the set limit for such expenses.
The disqualification is for five years from December 20, 2017. These persons have been disqualified under Section 33 of the Kerala Panchayat Raj Act and Section 89 of the Kerala Municipality Act. The officials concerned have been asked to notify the commission about the vacancies arising out of this disqualification.
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Cannot contest till 2022
The disqualified persons cannot now be candidates in the bypolls to local bodies, in the general elections of 2020 and in the byelections till 2022.
Candidates in the elections to grama panchayats can spend a maximum of ₹10,000, those contesting block panchayat elections, ₹30,000 and those contesting district panchayat polls can spend a maximum of ₹60,000.
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Similarly those contesting municipality elections and municipal corporation elections can spend a maximum of ₹30,000 and ₹60,000 respectively.
Officials concerned had submitted to the Commission details of those who did not submit details of election expenses and the Commission had set show-cause notices to such persons according to relevant provisions in the Panchayati Raj and Municipality Acts.
Of the 1572 local bodies those who contested in 372 institutions avoided disqualification by submitting details of election expenses. From the rest, 1200 local bodies 8750 persons were declared disqualified.
The maximum number of those disqualified, 1031, is from Ernakulam. The lowest number is from Wayanad, 161. As many as 972 persons from Malappuram, which has the maximum number of local bodies (122), were declared disqualified.
Details of those disqualified are available in the website www.secc.kerala.gov.in .