The Election Commission has placed several prominent leaders of the Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) on its blacklist for failing to submit and make public their election expenditure details within the specified timeframe.

RSP leaders Sobita Gautam, Shishir Khanal, Ganesh Parajuli and Biraj Bhakta Shrestha among others, who won from the Kathmandu constituency in the last election,  have been taken into action under the Election (Offences and Punishments) Act.

The Commission has also imposed a fine of  Rs 1, 5000 after they failed to submit and make public the details of their election expenses on time.

Senior leaders of other political parties have also been placed on the same blacklist. 

They include Nepali Congress General Secretary Gagan Thapa, CPN-UML Secretary duo Rajan Bhattarai and Sherdhan Rai, Maoist leaders Onsari Gharti, Pampha Bhusal, Nepali Congress leaders Santosh Chalise, Bhimsen Das Pradhan and Milan Pandey, who contested the election from Sajha Nepal. 

Though some of them have paid fines, the Commission said that they have still not made their election spending details public.

The Election Commission had directed all candidates contesting  the House of Representatives elections on April 17, 2023, to submit their election expenditure details and make them public within the time frame given by the law.

However, candidates who did not comply with the directive were subject to action.

Acting Chief Election Commissioner Ram Prasad Bhandari said that the candidates, who did not submit the detailed election expenses report to the Commission within the specified time and did not make it public to the voters following the 2022 elections, are on the "black list" of the Commission.