Government releases Rs5b election fund for ECP

The government granted the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) with a supplementary grant worth Rs5 billion on Wednesday, reported Express News.

Around Rs710 million from the grant have been dispatched while the rest of the money will be released next month.

The election commission had requested for the grant in January, maintaining that Rs0.5 billion has been allocated to the army to provide security during elections, while a major chunk of the supplementary grant, Rs1.259 billion, would be spent on polling staff expenditures.

According to the breakdown of the proposed expenditures submitted by Law Minister Farooq H Naek, Rs1 billion would be spent on printing ballot papers, forms, envelopes, posters and placards; Rs450 million for publicity; Rs87.5 million for establishing improvised polling stations; Rs148 million on procurement of election material and Rs215 million on procurement and transportation of ballot boxes and voting screens.

The government spent Rs1.85 billion for the polls held in 2008, while the army was given Rs195 million for providing assistance.