LG polls: Political parties agree to 'impractical' campaign expense limit

Campaign expense limit for councillors is Rs20,000, mayors for Karachi, Lahore can spend up to Rs200,000

ISLAMABAD: Mainstream political parties and election authorities have agreed to an ‘unrealistic’ maximum limit of election campaign expenditures for the upcoming local government polls.

In a recently held meeting at its headquarters, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) shared with political parties its ‘code of conduct’- rules of the game for the upcoming local government elections in Sindh and Punjab.

Under the rules, candidates contesting for the seat of a councillor can spend no more than Rs20,000 during their election campaign.

The maximum limit ascribed in the code of conduct for other seat categories for local governments is also unrealistic, making it almost impossible to be followed by the candidates.

Under the law, any major violation of code of conduct can disqualify a person from contest and de-seat a winner if proven guilty.

Interestingly, when the ECP briefed the party representatives on Thursday, none of the senior politicians objected to such rules mentioned in the code of conduct.

Read: LG polls in Punjab, Sindh further delayed

According to the document of ECP’s briefing available with The Express Tribune, those contesting for the seats of chairman and vice chairman of a union council can spend up to a maximum of Rs100,000 for their election campaign.

There will be one metropolitan corporation in each of these provinces - Lahore in Punjab and Karachi in Sindh. Those contesting for the key slots of mayor and deputy mayors of these mega cities can spend up to Rs200,000 for their campaign, as per the agreed code of conduct.

Similarly, Rs200,000 is the maximum limit for contestants for chairman and vice chairman of district council - an office equal to a mayor encompassing the entire district. Meanwhile, the maximum limit of Rs50,000 has been ascribed in the law for the candidates of chairman and vice chairman of a union council.

Process of the long-delayed elections for local governments in Punjab and Sindh started earlier this month. Polls in both the provinces will be held in three phases, with the first phase scheduled on October 31, followed by the second and third phase on November 19 and December 3, respectively.

The ECP has earmarked the districts in both provinces that would go for polls in each phase.

Read: Punjab ‘smartly’ changes poll rules

Under the law, after the polling process is completed, candidates winning the elections have to file an affidavit to the ECP, saying on oath they have not violated any clause of the code of conduct.

The winners also attach receipts of their election expenditure details along with the written affidavit. The ECP officially notifies winners once they complete these formalities.

Such loopholes and unrealistic clauses in the law pave way for dishonesty and corruption, even before a public representative is elected.

There has been a debate in the past to increase the maximum limit for election expenses for national and provincial assembly seats. However, proposals in this regard are still pending in Parliament for the past five years.

The existing law allows a candidate running for NA seat to spend up to Rs1.5 million for the election campaign, whereas one million can be spend by a candidate while contesting for a provincial seat.