The Supreme Court has issued an interim order not to take action against candidates for failing to furnish election expenditures timely.

Responding to a petition filed by Kathmandu Mayor Balendra Shah, a constitutional bench headed by Acting Chief Justice Hari Krishna Karki on Wednesday stayed the decision of the Election Commission to take action against 123,624 candidates of local elections for not submitting expenditure details timely.

The commission on August last year had imposed a hefty fine on candidates failing to submit expenditures and warned to disqualify those failing to pay fine within six months from being a candidate for any election for six years as per the prevailing election law.

The bench of Acting Chief Justice Hari Krishna Karki, Bishowambhar Prasad Shrestha, Annand Mohan Bhattarai, Anil Kumar Sinha and Prakash Man Singh Raut maintained that the provisions related to fine and disqualification in the Election Commission Act, 2017 will create an impact on democracy in a long run.

Section 26 (3) of the Election Commission Act, 2017 states that any political party or candidate, failing to submit the fine imposed, within six months, may be prohibited by the Commission from participating in any election or may be disqualified to appear as a candidate in any election for a maximum period of six years with immediate effect.

Kathmandu Mayor Balendra Shah on January 3 had filed a writ petition at the apex court, challenging the decision of the Election Commission to slap a hefty fine on him. The Election Commission had imposed a fine of Rs 750,000 on Shah on the charge of not submitting details of election expenses on time.

The commission had fined 123,624 candidates including mayors of six metropolises charging them with violating clause 26(1) of the Election Commission Act which requires candidates to submit expenditure details within 30 days of the announcement of the final results.