KARACHI:
Since the no-confidence motion earlier this year, PTI, the former ruling party is pressuring the government to hold early elections and let the people decide who should rule the country. However, the incumbent Prime Minister, cabinet ministers and advisers have continuously addressed press conferences and issued statements that the general election will only be held on the scheduled date and the government will not succumb to any sort of pressure from the opposition.
Earlier when the federal budget for the financial year 2022-23 was announced, a number of documents were released, which are available for the public to view online. A ‘budget in brief’ section can be found among the list of available documents wherein I came across the allocated “grants and subsidies”. I was surprised to see that Rs500 million were allocated to the Election Commission of Pakistan for holding local government elections and another Rs5,000 million were allocated for the next general election. One cannot help but wonder if the general elections are to be held in 2023, why did the government make the allocations in this budget?
Naturally, as citizens, we cannot fully understand the kind of preparation and resources required for elections. However, if the government has made these figures public, perhaps it should also inform people about how these funds are utilised. Given that the country is experiencing an economic crunch, such allocations without any context seem unreasonable. Therefore, I would suggest the government be more transparent about budget allocations. Also, it should avoid petty politics and focus on economic recovery to ensure electoral success.
M Zahid Rifat
Lahore
Published in The Express Tribune, November 13th, 2022.
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