THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: As many as 9,202 of the nearly 75,000 candidates who contested in the 2020 local body elections have not submitted their electoral expenses statement before the State Election Commission (SEC). The SEC has published a draft list of the candidates who have not complied with the election rules. The poll panel has warned the erring candidates that they will be barred from contesting local body polls for five years if the electoral expense statement or sufficient reason is not furnished within 10 days before the officials concerned.
In the case of elected representatives, they will stand to lose their posts in addition to the disqualification from contesting polls for five years if they do not comply with the rules. The results of the local body election were out on December 16, 2020. Candidates were to submit their electoral expenses within 30 days of the declaration of the result.
The maximum expense that a candidate could incur in the local body poll was Rs 1.5 lakh in corporations and district panchayats. While the ceiling for block panchayat and municipality is Rs 75,000, in grama panchayat the maximum limit was Rs 25,000. The district collector is the official concerned with examining the electoral expense in case of district panchayat, corporation and municipality. For the grama panchayats, it is the block panchayat secretary and for block panchayats, the district panchahyat secretary monitors electoral expenses.