EC extends time until Aug 31

The Election Commission has extended the deadline for submission of the registered political parties' audit reports on their financial transactions during the 2014 calendar year to August 31, reports UNB.

But the parties who neither submitted the audit report nor applied to seek time will face legal action.

"Following appeals from some political parties, we extended time till August 31 for them to submit their audit reports of the last calendar year. But the legal action will be taken against the parties who neither placed the report nor sought time," said Election Commissioner Shah Nawaz on Monday at his EC secretariat office.

According to the laws, registered political parties are obliged to submit the audit report of their total transactions of the previous calendar year by July 31, he added.

As the last July 31 was a holiday, the deadline for submission of the audit reports expired on Sunday.

A total of 25 political parties, out of the 40 registered ones with the EC, placed their audit reports within the deadline, while nine other parties, including two major political parties --ruling Awami League and BNP-- sought more time to submit the reports.

But the remaining six parties did not even contact the commission over the issue.

The EC last month sent reminders to all the 40 registered political parties about the July-31 deadline.

According to the Political Parties Registration Rules 2008, a party has to get its total transactions on a calendar year audited by a chartered accounting firm and submit a copy of the firm's report to the commission by July 31 of the subsequent year.