The disqualifications span candidates from both Lok Sabha and state assembly elections across multiple election cycles.
The Election Commission of India (ECI) has disqualified 529 people, including four from West Bengal, who contested Lok Sabha and assembly elections as independent candidates but didn’t file their expenditure accounts, from voting and contesting elections to Parliament and state legislatures for three years.
The disqualification order, under Section 10A of the Representation of the People Act (RPA), 1951, strips them of their rights to vote and stand for elections conducted under the RPA, 1951. The order was issued on March 16.
Under Section 10A, every candidate who contests an election is legally required to submit a detailed account of all election expenditure within 30 days of the declaration of results. This includes every rupee spent — from campaign rallies and vehicle hire to printing banners and posters. Failure to comply with this requirement empowers the Commission to disqualify the candidate for three years.
According to a senior ECI official, “Independent candidates, who lack the organisational backing of political parties, are particularly prone to missing the filing deadline — either due to ignorance of the requirement or inability to compile the necessary documentation within the stipulated window.”
The disqualification, however, would not extend to panchayat and municipal elections, which are conducted by the State Election Commissions (SEC), not the ECI. Since Section 10A operates under the RPA, 1951, its disqualification does not automatically extend to elections governed by separate state statutes.
Uttar Pradesh (120) leads the list of 529 disqualified individuals nationwide, followed by Karnataka (59) and Madhya Pradesh (39), Chhattisgarh (36), Tamil Nadu (33), Bihar (28), Telangana (27), Punjab (27), Uttarakhand (27), Andhra Pradesh (25), Haryana (22), Kerala (16), Assam (14), Rajasthan (12), Goa (3), Gujarat (9), Himachal Pradesh (9), Odisha (8), Delhi (4), West Bengal (4), Jharkhand (2), and one each from Manipur, Meghalaya, Sikkim, Tripura, and Lakshadweep.