Aspiring politicians and even voters could be fined heavily if they violate electoral laws. This is because the Election Commission has increased the fines by four folds. And it is as per the Election Commission or ECB’s new Rules on Elections Conduct 2022.
With the revision of the rules, the ECB has increased the penalty which is usually calculated based on the National Wage Rate.
Before the revision, an individual was liable to pay a penalty of over Nu 3,750 or the national wage rate for 30 days for a minor offence. This is now revised to 120 days.
For a major offence, the penalty has been increased from a national wage rate of 150 days to 600 days amounting to Nu 75,000.
The current minimum national wage rate is Nu 125 per day.
According to the ECB, one may receive a warning for the first offence if it is minor, but fines will be imposed for a major offence.
Moreover, the office says this has become necessary as the Election Rules and Regulations were introduced 15 years ago.
Phub Dorji, the Director of the Department of Secretariat with the ECB says the existing rules were made based on people’s understanding of democracy when it was fairly new in the country. “So, it is to prevent and for the people to feel that there is a rule in place, we have introduced it basically as a preventive measure, towards undesirable circumstances in the electoral process.”
Another new change in the rules is the need for aspiring candidates to produce an Integrity Vetting Report or IVR from the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC).
In addition, aspiring candidates also have to produce a Non-Performing Loan clearance certificate from the Royal Monetary Authority.
“The IVR report from the ACC will see how credible the person is and the Credit Information Bureau or CIB’s clearance will see that the candidate or the person does not solicit any foreign sources. If you seek that, that’s the contravention of the election act. So, altogether we aim to get a person who is clean, who has a clean record, who does not solicit unethical support, and also to get the best person in the country who can take the country forward,” added Phub Dorji.
The ECB says they will work closely with the RMA and the CIB to keep track of any irregular flow of money from foreign sources.
The director reiterated that everyone, especially aspiring candidates need to familiarise themselves with the new rules and regulations to avoid any undesirable incidents later on.
Devika Pradhan
Edited by Phub Gyem
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