KABUL (Pajhwok): The Attorney General Office (AGO) has received 37 criminal cases relating to elections involving 134 persons, an official said on Tuesday.
The Wolesi Jirga elections were held on October 20 and 21 in 32 provinces of the country. The polls were held after a week delay in Kandahar province and would be conducted in Ghazni province with the presidential election next year.
According to the Independent Electoral Complaints Commission (IECC), around 11,000 complaints have been registered after the elections about alleged rigging and fraud.
AGO spokesman Jamshir Rasouli told reporters here that 37 criminal cases related to elections had been registered so far, in which 137 people had been accused.
He said most of the cases were from Kabul, Paktia, Badakhshan, Baghlan, Kapisa, Kunar and Nangarhar provinces. He added Kandahar province was not included in the cases.
He said investigation into election criminal cases belonged to the AGO while election complaints were being looked into by the IECC.
Punishment
Election crimes are identified in the election law and punishment for these crimes is embodied in chapter six and article 224 and 534 of the law.
According to the criminal penal code, punishment for bribe, intimidation, threatening and influencing voters, observers, watchdogs and media men is five years in jail,
While for misplacing documents without legal permission, seeking illegal financial assistance from State, people, foreign institutions is sentenced up to five years in jail.
The penal code also explains if someone tries to hide election related forms, results or ballots to hide reality would be jailed for up to three years and if someone tries to change, hide, sell ballots or other documents in order to give advantage to a specific candidate would be jailed for three years.
Election violations
If a government servant gets involved in campaigning for a candidate, he/she could be fined from 1,000 to 10,000 afghanis.