A petition has been filed with the Election Commission asking it to order the dissolution of the Bhumjaithai Party for not declaring three items in its declaration of campaign expenses for the July 3, 2011 general election, EC member Sodsri Sattayatham said.
Mrs Sodsri said the petition was filed by an eligible voter in Songkhla province but did not disclose the person's name.
In the petition, BJT was accused of failing to declare the following expenses to the EC:
1. The rent for use of space at about 300 tollgates of the Expressway and Rapid Transit Athority of Thailand to distribute party documents;
2. The cost of delivering the documents to various EXAT tollgates; and
3. The money paid to employees hired to distribute the documents at the tollgates.
Mrs Sodsri said that in a preliminary examination of BJT's annual report for the year 2011, such expenses were not included in it.
If the EC agreed in a meeting to set up a committee to investigate, the investigation would take about 30 days.
She said this was the first petition of this kind for a party dissolution, citing the failure to fully report campaign expenses.