Financial scrutiny of election candidates

There is no reason to allow people who have indulged in financial impropriety to control the national purse string.

The returning officers who srcutinised candidates for the May 11 elections seemed to have a strange sense of priorities. Not being able to recite Quranic verses became ground for disqualification but financial impropriety is apparently considered more kosher. The list of candidates who have had loans written off or simply haven’t paid back loans was given to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) and included many whose nomination papers have been approved by returning officers. Now, it is certainly true that loans are written off for a variety of reasons, some more legitimate than others, but we also know that our politicians are not averse to using their influence to get large loans written off simply because they don’t want to pay them back.

The ECP should take the information given by the SBP and carry out further scrutiny of the candidates on the list. There is still time for the ECP to grill the defaulters and those who had their loans written off. This includes those candidates who have also been negligent in paying utility bills. The nomination process should be guided by the principle that our representatives are subject to the law in the same way as the general public is. Not paying electricity bills should be grounds for disconnection and perhaps, even disqualification from standing in the elections. Loans worth billions of rupees that have been written off should also be grounds for disqualification, after which the matter should be sent to the National Accountability Bureau for investigation and recovery of the money.



There are some who say that the ECP should not be overly involved in this process; that the voters should be allowed to decide who is or isn’t a crook. That is true to a certain point. Certainly, there should be no religious test for office. But there is no reason to allow people who we know have indulged in some form of financial impropriety or other to control the national purse string. How can we trust that such people will be honest guardians of public money? Those who feel they are wrongly included in the list should be given a chance to clear their names while the rest need to be disqualified.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 11^th, 2013.