Registering in the wrong professional groups may not constitute an offence unless the candidate intended to deceive authorities and the public in the Senate election, says the Election Commission (EC).
The clarification was made by EC secretary-general Sawaeng Boonmee on Facebook on Saturday.
The EC has come under intense pressure after the final, national-round of the Senate contest wrapped up on Wednesday in Bangkok. Allegations were abound of vote-rigging and illegitimate and mismatched candidacy registrations, prompting the EC to mount an investigation.
Mr Sawaeng said on Saturday the right to compete in a Senate election is separate from submitting an application form -- called the Sor Wor 3 form -- that might contain untrue information about the candidate. He was citing a Supreme Court precedent.
If, for example, the Sor Wor 3 form says the candidate farms salt as a profession only for a probe to find later that he has lied about it, the candidate is liable for criminal charges for declaring false information.
But that does not preclude his right to enter the Senate race, according to the EC secretary-general.
The commission is sifting through complaints made against 48,226 candidates accused of giving false information about themselves in the registration document filed with the EC.
Mr Sawaeng said if the complaints have grounds, the candidates will be charged for violating the Senate election law.
The EC was also acting on complaints about certain candidates being hired to take part in the Senate race and diverting their votes to certain fellow candidates backed by political groups.
Meanwhile, Jaturun Boonbenjarat, secretary-general of the Clean Politics group, said he will seek an urgent injunction from the Supreme Administrative Court to halt the planned announcement of the Senate election result on Tuesday.
The injunction, if issued, would go into effect while the court considers his request to rule on alleged irregularities in Senate polls.
He said he was exercising his right as a Senate poll candidate to keep the upper House free from being dominated by political elements.
"This (Senate poll) could well go down in history as another chapter in dirty politics," he said.
Mr Jaturun alleged political elements were able to manipulate the vote and some candidates had registered in professional groups they were not qualified to be in.
He insisted the EC must find the connections between certain candidates and parties and probe whether some candidates registered in the wrong professional groups, and why they did so.
"For starters, the EC should look through the bank accounts that might reveal unusual finance transactions during the Senate election," he said.
He said some winners of the Senate race were too short on maturity and professional experience in their given fields to serve effectively as senators.
If parties are able to wrap the Senate around their little finger, as the saying goes, the Senate's ability to screen legislation to maintain accountability would be in grave danger, he added.