Code violation: ECP puts parts of govt’s Kissan package on hold

Says some incentives could influence voters in favour of PML-N during local government polls

ISLAMABAD:

In a bid to prevent the ruling party from a potential unfair advantage in the upcoming local government poll, the election authorities have deferred implementation of certain components of the Kissan bailout package.

The stay shall remain in effect until the third (and last) phase of the LG polls in Sindh and Punjab is completed by the first week of December.

On September 15, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif had announced a 341-billion-rupee bailout package for farmers in a bid to shield them against the financial impact of the prolonged slump in agricultural commodity prices.

However, taking note of the opposition parties’ plea, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) had directed the Ministry of National Food Security & Research last week to provide details of the relief package.

After perusing the ministry’s documents, the ECP concluded that certain incentives announced under the package could influence voters in favour of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) during the local bodies’ elections.

ECP Secretary Babar Yaqoob told the media that certain parts of the package were in violation of the code of conduct for elections: the government cannot launch any development scheme in the areas where the schedule of polling has been announced.

The electoral body also found the government’s advertisement campaign of the package in violation of polling rules.

The three major incentives of the package that would remain suspended until December 3 are: disbursement of Rs5,000 per acre to the farmers having land holdings up to 12.5 acres; 2% reduction in the interest rate for rice and cotton growers; and a raise from Rs2,000 to Rs4,000 in production index units of agricultural lands. This index is used by banks to allocate loans to farmers.

The ECP secretary said that since most of the other portions of the package were part of this fiscal’s budget, the government could continue with them.

The much-awaited relief package materialised as a result of protests by farmers’ bodies in the past few months and criticism by key opposition parties over what they called apathy of the PML-N towards peasants, who constitute a major chunk of the country’s population.

Leaving unaddressed many crucial issues that have led to a sluggish growth in one of the country’s principal economic sectors, the package included incentives like grants, subsidies and loan advances for farmers.

Raising questions about the timing of announcing the package, the opposition parties said the bailout was unveiled at a time when the schedule for the LG polls had already been issued.

Immediately after the premier had unveiled the bailout, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) had approached the ECP with the plea that the multi-billion-rupee package was aimed at luring rural voters in favour of the PML-N.

It is unclear how the ECP’s measure would fare in terms of the voting pattern in the LG polls, but many political analysts claim it would go against the PTI. They believe the ruling party would make it an election issue in rural constituencies to criticise the Imran Khan-led party for halting what the farmers could have received as immediate relief through the bailout package.


Published in The Express Tribune, October 1^st, 2015.