Afghanistan’s Electoral Complaint Commission (ECC) announced that 31 candidates from 17 provinces, who registered for upcoming parliamentary election, had been disqualified for charges of having links with illegal armed groups.

"The ECC has received from the Vetting Committee (of Independent Election Commission) an official letter containing the names of 31 candidates who have registered to contest the election for Wolesi Jirga (Lower House) while having links with illegal armed groups," Ahmad Zia Rafat, spokesperson to ECC told a press conference here on Wednesday July 07. However, he did not disclose the names of disqualified candidates.

According to Rafat, the Vetting Committee had given the “candidates in question” chance to defend their disqualification, but they failed to get clearance by the commission.

"Therefore, based on article 12 of the Electoral Law, the ECC found that these citizens cannot run for the election, and therefore the ECC decided that their names should be removed from the final list of the candidates of elections," he added.

Five other candidates had already been disqualified by the Election Complaints Commission before the final list had been released by election officials.

More than 2,500 Afghans had registered their names to secure 249 seats in the Afghan Lower House of parliament.

Afghanistan's second parliamentary election, since the fall of the Taliban regime in 2001, is scheduled for September 18 this year.