Election Commission initiates inquiry into ‘dummy’ candidate row

KATHMANDU: The Election Commission has initiated inquiry into claims of election candidates being involved in creating support for their campaign by raising dummy election candidates.

The commission had set up an investigation teams headed by Joint Secretary two days earlier after media reports claimed that some candidates in some districts were channeling funds for their election campaign through some dummy candidates, registered as independent and in some cases as candidates from a ally party.

The teams formed two days earlier have been dispatched in every district to monitor and evaluate the claims. If found true, the Commission has warned that it will cancel candidacy of dummy candidates as well as candidate being supported.

Of the many factors for which such dummy candidates are registered, election commission’s bar on electoral campaign spending is said to be major one. As per the EC’s code of conduct for CA elections, a electoral candidate under direct election system can spend a maximum of Rs 1 million and use a maximum of two vehicles.

Actual spending in the election campaigns are much higher than this. However raising dummy candidates to support them, has lured many politicians and aspirant CA members to involve in this scandal.

Though none of the candidates have been implicated directly for doing so, Commissioner Dolakh Bahadur Gurung has warned that if any candidate is found guilty of being involved in such acts, his candidacy will be terminated even after the vote count.