For NA and PA seat: Panel proposes doubling limit of election expenses

Also suggests election records may be destroyed within two months after polls, if results not challenged

ISLAMABAD:

Parliamentary panel deliberating proposals for electoral reforms have decided to double the maximum limit of expenditures a candidate can make during an election campaign.

The sub-committee of parliamentary committee on electoral reforms, headed by MNA Zahid Hamid of the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), in its meeting on Wednesday recommended enhancing maximum limit of electioneering expenditures from Rs1.5 million to Rs3 million for a National Assembly (NA) seat and from Rs1 million to Rs2 million for a Provincial Assembly (PA) seat.

The existing limit of Rs1.5 for NA and Rs1 for PA candidates was deemed unrealistic. In most of the cases aspirants running for NA and PA polls spend many times more than what is prescribed in the law.

Under the law, all the winning candidates file with the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) details of their electioneering expenditures within a specified timeframe.

The top electoral body officially notifies winners as lawmakers after receiving the receipts of expenditures and affidavits that they remained within the prescribed limit. However, there is no mechanism available with the ECP to audit the claims filed by the candidates.

The poll supervisory body in its proposal to parliament had proposed the limit of Rs5 million for NA and Rs2.5 million for PA candidates. It is not clear if the ECP would be able to verify the authenticity of claims filed by politicians since in most of the constituencies’ election campaigns are run by spending millions and millions of rupees.



The sub-committee is a smaller panel of main bipartisan parliamentary body to reform electoral system of the country. Formed in August last year, the main committee headed by Ishaq Dar, minister for finance, received more than 1,200 recommendations from different stakeholders.

It handed over these proposals to the sub-committee for vetting and formulating a package comprising amendments into existing laws and constitutional provisions related to elections. The panel is also tasked to bring different election laws into one statutory book.

The sub-committee decided to give legal cover to district monitoring committees which will monitor that all the political parties and candidates are following the elections’ code of conduct. These panels will report to district returning officers (ROs) who would be empowered to disqualify a candidate for violating the code of conduct.

The body also decided to inculcate a provision in the law to bound ROs to conduct re-count of ballots if the first count is challenged. The ECP would be bound to upload form 16 and 17 on its website within 21 days after the polling. These forms contain details of ballot papers used and those that were not used.

The panel also recommended that once election for a constituency is held, if no one challenges the results within two months, the record of ballot papers maybe destroyed from the stores.

Currently there is no time limit to keep the record stored. In poorly managed government stores, the ballot record is kept in bad conditions often not useable if needed for any vote scrutiny.

It has also been recommended that all the political parties taking part in elections should not only declare their accounts but also sources of their funding. A similar, but loose provision, is already there in the existing laws but never been followed in its true spirit.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 20^th, 2015.