While a rejuvenated Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has been able to make some big strides lately, the implementation of long-ignored election prerequisites will pose an interesting challenge for the body.
If laws on submitting intra-party election results and accounts were properly implemented, it appears that a few mainstream political parties, namely the ruling Pakistan Peoples Party, Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf and Jamaat-e-Islami would not qualify for obtaining election symbols.
Under Article 12 of the Political Parties Order 2002, the party leader of each political party is bound to submit a certificate showing that intra-party elections were held in accordance with the constitution of the party within seven days of the elections.
At least 71 registered parties have either not conducted intra-party elections, or if they have, have not submitted the results to the ECP, a legal requirement in order to acquire an election symbol on which a party contests elections.
Had the law been implemented, parties could be barred from taking part in elections. But flouting rules has become a common and accepted practice.
Additionally, under Article 13 of the order, every political party is required to submit a consolidated statement of accounts, audited by a chartered accountant within sixty days from the close of each financial year to the ECP. The order requires the statement to include annual income and expenses, sources of funds, assets and liabilities.
Under Section 5 of the Allocation of Symbol Order 2002, “subject to fulfillment of the provisions of Political Parties Order, 2002 and the rules framed there under, a political party shall make an application to the election commission for the allocation of a symbol of its choice within the period specified by the commission…”
An ECP official, on condition of anonymity, admitted that these laws existed but have never been implemented, similar to the law that barred dual nationals from taking part in elections.
In any case, the official said there is no mechanism available with the commission to verify the authenticity of submitted statements. The official added that millions of rupees are spent on public gatherings and other activities by political parties which are similarly not recorded in the party accounts. “They might submit a fake intra-party elections statement just a day before last date of applying for election symbols and the commission will accept it. This has been a practice for a long time,” the official said.
There are a total of 193 parties registered with the ECP.
Published in The Express Tribune, October 14th, 2012.
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