KABUL - The Electoral Complaints Commission (ECC) on Monday announced that further review of Provincial Council candidate documents yielded evidence indicating that at least 25 individuals from Kabul, Parwan, Panjsher, Daikundi, Nimroz, Bamyan, Balkh, Takhar and Kandahar provinces had defrauded some of their materials.

ECC Secretariat Chief and Spokesman Nader Mohseni said that the 25 candidates would not be permitted to run in the April election, and that any other candidates who were found to have misrepresented themselves or their candidacy in accordance to the Election Laws would be disqualified.

There is still a chance further discoveries will come to light ahead of April 5, according to Mohseni.

"Our assessments will continue until the elections on the basis of the law and the authorities of the Electoral Complaints Commission," he said.

According to the ECC, the 25 candidates just cut were found to have faked educational documents and/or the signatures from supporting voters they were required to submit.

"There is possibility that many candidates have registered names with fake documents," Mohseni said of the supporting signatures.

A number of Presidential and Provincial Council candidates were cut due to fraudulent documentation back in November. At the time, some candidates who had been eliminated criticized the ECC for not cracking down on all those who had flawed nominations. (Tolonews)