EC serves notices on NCP, six other parties for not reporting polls spending

Parties must submit their election spending details within 90 days of the results being officially gazetted

The Election Commission has issued show-cause notices to seven parties, including the National Citizen Party (NCP), for failing to submit their financial expenditure statements for the Feb 12 election.

The other parties served with notices are the Bangladesh Jatiya Party (BJP), Bangladesh Muslim League (BML), the Bangladesh Kalyan Party, the Amar Bangladesh Party (AB Party), the National Democratic Movement (NDM) and the Aam Janatar Dal.

EC Deputy Secretary Mohammad Monir Hossain confirmed issuing the notices on Thursday.

As many as 50 political parties contested the 13th parliamentary election.

The official gazette notification detailing the election results was published on the night of Feb 13.

Under current electoral laws, all participating political parties are legally mandated to submit their official election expenditure statements within 90 days of the publication of the results gazette.

Consequently, the final deadline for submission was May 13.

A total of 27 political parties, including the main opposition party Jamaat-e-Islami, successfully submitted their financial accounts within the stipulated timeframe.

The EC initially issued a reminder to the remaining 23 parties – which included both the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and the NCP – granting them an extension until Jun 14 to file their accounts.

During this extended period, the BNP and 15 other parties submitted their reports.

The notices require the non-compliant parties to explain why they should not be fined Tk 10,000 and directed to immediately file their expenditure accounts to the senior secretary of the Election Commission Secretariat.