Rs42.41b reserved for polls this year

Govt allocates Rs15b in budget for security of elections

ISLAMABAD:

The federal government has allocated around Rs42.41 billion in the next fiscal year’s budget for the upcoming general elections -- probably falling in October or November of 2023.

It has also reserved a sum of Rs15 billion for the security of the polls.

According to the details, an amount of over Rs5.60 billion has been allocated for the project management unit and voting in the budget.

More than a sum of Rs4.83 billion has been reserved for the printing of ballot papers.

Similarly, an amount of Rs270 million has been allocated for the printing of election lists.

The federal government has also reserved Rs1.79 billion for the election training wing.

An amount of more than Rs500 million has been allocated for media coordination.

It has also reserved a sum of over Rs1.2 billion in the next budget for election preparations.

In terms of provinces, the federal government has allocated a sum of around Rs9.65 billion in the budget for the elections in Punjab.

Similarly, it has reserved an amount of nearly Rs3.95 billion for the polls in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa.

The Centre has allocated almost Rs3.65 billion for the elections in Sindh.

More than a sum of Rs1.11 billion has been allocated for the elections in Balochistan.

The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) had proposed an allocation of Rs54 billion for holding the elections in the entire country.

However, the federal government has assured the electoral watchdog that it would provide it with a sum of Rs47 billion for conducting the polls.

The Centre has already provided Rs5 billion to the ECP for the elections.

In a surprising development, the ECP in March delayed the election in Punjab until October 8 on the grounds that it could not conduct transparent and peaceful polls on the scheduled date of April 30.

In an eight-page order, the ECP said that it could not hold the election “honestly, justly and fairly in a peaceful manner due to security threats [and] in the absence of funds” and being unable to provide a “level-playing field” to all political parties.

The Punjab Assembly was dissolved by then chief minister Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi in January on the instructions of PTI Chairman Imran Khan. Imran had also ordered the dissolution of the K-P Assembly, which was also dissolved in the same month.

The move was aimed at pressuring the incumbent government into holding early polls.

The Supreme Court too came to Imran’s aid, ordering on April 4 that the elections in Punjab must be held on May 14.

However, Imran’s arrest on May 9 from the premises of the Islamabad High Court by dozens of Rangers personnel in connection with a corruption case turned out to be a ‘game changer', as it triggered countrywide violent protests in which civil and military installations were attacked.