Election campaigns: PML-N calls for ban on political billboards

Party finalises suggestions for ECP’c code of conduct; calls for shared airtime on PTV, joint provision of...

LAHORE:

In its feedback to the Election Commission of Pakistan’s (ECP’s) proposed code of conduct, the opposition Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) will call for a blanket ban on banners and billboards, shared airtime on national television and joint provision of transport for voters in the upcoming polls.

Sources in the PML-N told The Express Tribune that the party has prepared its final suggestions for the code of conduct for political parties and candidates issued by the ECP two moths ago.

PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif presided over a meeting of the party’s special committee on code of conduct, formed after the ECP sent the 49-point draft to political parties for revision and feedback.

Suggestions

Senator Pervez Rashid, a member of PML-N’s code of conduct committee, confirmed the suggestions and said the party would submit its feedback to ECP. He said candidates could not afford large banners so the PML-N has suggested a blanket ban on hoardings.



The PML-N has also suggested that political parties should be given air time on the state-run Pakistan Television (PTV) for their advertisement campaigns, based on their electoral strength in the last general elections, Senator Rashid said. There are around 200 political parties but a handful have sufficient clout, he added.

The senator said the issue of provision of transport to voters is also important since a lot of them live in far-flung areas. If candidates can afford to provide transport to voters, they should be allowed to do so jointly with the ECP, the PML-N has suggested.



Making elections accessible

Three months ago, Awami Worker Party’s President Abid Hassan Minto moved a petition in the Supreme Court to have existing election laws implemented through the ECP.

Minto complained that under existing practices, the poor cannot get party tickets and contest elections.

He called for reforms in the existing code of conduct so that contesting elections be accessible to the poor.

The court, in its detailed judgment, passed on the recommendations to the ECP which subsequently issued a 49-point code of conduct to the political parties.

According to PML-N’s official statement on the committee meeting, party chief Nawaz said that a fair, transparent and independent election will not only take the nation closer to a democratic setup, but also enhance the dignity and stature of the country in the world.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 26^th, 2012.