Election

ISLAMABAD – Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Wednesday rejected the plea of Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) to halt proceedings of foreign funding case till the Supreme Court’s decision on an identical case. A five-member Commission headed by Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Justice (Retd) Sardar Muhammad Raza which heard the case issued a short order and directed the PTI to provide details of party funding by September 7. The Commission said this will be the last opportunity for PTI to submit details of party funding. At the outset, PTI lawyers Anwar Mansoor in a new reply submitted to the Commission had asked the ECP to stop the proceedings in the foreign funding case as a similar case is also being heard at the Supreme Court against his client. However, Ahmed Hassan, legal counsel of petitioner Akbar S Babar raised objections on the plea taken by the PTI lawyer Mansoor that new reply submitted by him did not contain details of the party funds. Akbar S Babar had moved to the Election Commission of Pakistan in 2014 seeking disqualification of PTI Chairman Imran Khan on charges of collecting party funds from “prohibited” sources. Interestingly, since then PTI has been delaying the process of providing details of the party funds either by submitting new replies through different lawyers or by questioning the powers of the Commission to scrutinise party funds. When petitioner’s lawyer Ahmed Hassan pointed out that the details sought by the ECP were missing from the response, Mansoor told the court that the relevant documents had already been filed with the Supreme Court, adding the ECP is a party to the case that is going on in the apex court. Mansoor told the ECP tribunal that the SC had not asked for the party’s entire funding history. “Perhaps there is an element of prejudice in some corner of the ECP,” the lawyer alleged. Dismissing his claims, the commissioner said that seeking details does not mean that prejudice exists. “As a party to the SC case, the ECP should not proceed with hearings on this case,” Mansoor maintained. The commissioner told the lawyer that it would have been better if he approached the SC with a request to halt the ECP proceedings. The petitioner’s lawyer, however, argued that the nature of the case being heard in the apex court was different from that of the ECP case. Hassan added that if PTI submitted the details of its funds, it would become clear if the money was received from prohibited sources or not. He asked the ECP not to hear PTI’s request, claiming that it was an attempt to avoid furnishing the financial details. “The PTI has been asked to submit the details by 21 times,” he said. Earlier in May, the ECP had given the PTI another chance to produce its financial records in the foreign funding case despite issuing the same directives twice before. On Dec 1 last year, the ECP had also ordered the PTI to submit its accounts or face ‘legal consequences’. Instead of complying with the orders, the party had accused the ECP of ‘political bias’ which led to a contempt application against Imran Khan filed by petitioner Akbar S. Babar. The case was filed on Nov 14, 2014 by Babar, after he developed differences with the PTI chief over internal corruption and abuse of laws governing political funding. The petitioner had alleged that nearly $3 million in illegal foreign funds were collected through two offshore companies, registered under Imran Khan’s signature, and that money was sent through illegal ‘hundi’ channels from the Middle East to accounts of PTI employees. He also alleged that the foreign accounts used to collect funds were concealed from the annual audit reports submitted to the ECP. In April 2015, after scrutinising PTI’s annual audit reports, the ECP had ordered that the party had failed to disclose the sources and details of foreign funds received. But instead of submitting the accounts, the PTI had challenged the ECP’s jurisdiction to scrutinise its accounts. Last month, Islamabad High Court rejected PTI’s plea to prevent the ECP from hearing Babar’s petition, saying the case has been going on since 2014 and has already once been referred back to the ECP. Later talking to media, the petitioner Akbar S Babar said that Imran Khan continues to run from accountability. He said, in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the PTI Chairman deactivated the process of accountability instead of eradicating corruption. He said PTI Chief is pursuing the agenda of confrontation among state institutions for his vested interest. Babar, after he developed differences with the PTI chief over internal corruption and abuse of laws governing political funding. The petitioner had alleged that nearly $3 million in illegal foreign funds were collected through two offshore companies, registered under Imran Khan’s signature, and that money was sent through illegal ‘hundi’ channels from the Middle East to accounts of PTI employees. He also alleged that the foreign accounts used to collect funds were concealed from the annual audit reports submitted to the ECP. In April 2015, after scrutinising PTI’s annual audit reports, the ECP had ordered that the party had failed to disclose the sources and details of foreign funds received. But instead of submitting the accounts, the PTI had challenged the ECP’s jurisdiction to scrutinise its accounts. Last month, Islamabad High Court rejected PTI’s plea to prevent the ECP from hearing Babar’s petition, saying the case has been going on since 2014 and has already once been referred back to the ECP. Later talking to media, the petitioner Akbar S Babar said that Imran Khan continues to run from accountability. He said, in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the PTI Chairman deactivated the process of accountability instead of eradicating corruption. He said PTI Chief is pursuing the agenda of confrontation among state institutions for his vested interest. This news was published in The Nation newspaper. Read complete newspaper of 17-Aug-2017

ISLAMABAD – The Election Commission of Pakistan would give its decision on the foreign funding of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf when it resumes hearing of the case today (Wednesday). In this regard, the ECP has issued the cause list and fixed the case for orders which has been lingering since 2014. According to the ECP, the delay in the case had been because of the PTI strategy, which first raised objection to the jurisdiction of the commission and then challenged its powers in the Islamabad High Court for two times. The ECP, in its detailed judgment on the question of jurisdiction in the PTI foreign funding case, had rejected the argument that it was a past and closed transaction. “Let us assume a scenario where a political party has received prohibited funding from foreign countries, say India, for example. When such party rendered the accounts, the prohibition got omitted to be noticed. Would that omission justify the receipt of prohibited funding from India and become justified with the lapse of time?” the order read. It observed: “It is simply not imaginable; rather it becomes the bounden duty of the ECP to scrutinise either taking suo motu or on the application of somebody.” The commission said it was its responsibility under Article 218 (3) of the Constitution and the Political Parties Order, 2002, to see whether a party receiving prohibited funding should be allowed to enter the electoral arena or not. The ECP also referred to a judgment of the Supreme Court in the Ardeshir Cowasjee case in which the court had categorically held that an illegal action could not be treated as irrevocable or past or closed transaction. On the other hand, PTI has failed to submit its financial accounts. On June 7, PTI once again failed to produce the financial documents and, instead, took the plea that since a similar matter was pending before the Supreme Court, hearing should be postponed until instructions from the apex court were received. On this the CEC adjourned hearing until June 22. In the petition filed in the IHC, Imran Khan challenged the locus standi (right to speak) of Akbar S Babar who, in his application before the ECP, had questioned sources of PTI’s foreign funds. PTI has been contesting that the ECP has no jurisdiction to question the sources of its funds and Akbar S Babar, as a private person, cannot file such an application before the ECP. In his application, Akbar S Babar alleged PTI had violated Article 6 of the Political Parties Order, 2002, by collecting funds from abroad. PTI says under the PPO there is no concept of scrutiny of political parties through public at large. Earlier, this year, PTI filed a petition in the IHC, raising the question of maintainability of Babar’s complaint by the ECP, but the commission did not decide the maintainability and jurisdiction questions in clear terms. An IHC bench on Feb 15 directed the ECP to decide the matter of jurisdiction and maintainability. On May 6, the ECP decided the matters of its jurisdiction and ‘locus standi’ of Babar. According to PTI, the ECP, through its subsequent order of May 8, decided that it had jurisdiction to hear the case, but did not provide detailed reasons for the order. In the new petition before the IHC, Imran Khan made the ECP and Babar respondents. About the latter, the petition said Babar had been a PTI member since 1996, but was expelled in 2011. “Babar is a disgruntled ex-member and has personal vendetta against the party and its chairman,” it argued. The ECP, later this month, would also decide a contempt application filed against PTI chief Imran Khan for casting aspersions on the ECP in a review application of January 9. The party’s counsel took the plea that the matter was closed as the ECP had already accepted the junior lawyer’s unconditional apology. But the CEC contended his Jan 16 short order clearly stated that the respondent’s apology had not been received. Later, a short order was passed rejecting Imran Khan’s reply to the contempt application as the last chance before legal inferences are drawn on the contempt application. In its previous hearing, the ECP issued a show cause notice to Imran Khan and would frame charges against him on the next hearing. This news was published in The Nation newspaper. Read complete newspaper of 16-Aug-2017

ISLAMABAD: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Thursday issued a show cause notice to the chief of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Imran Khan in a contempt of court case. The five-member commission resumed hearing of the case here, headed by Chief Election Commissioner Justice Sardar Muhammad Raza. The commission ruled that it is within the ECP’s jurisdiction to take action on contempt of court. The commission sought reply from the PTI chief Imran Khan by August 23. Earlier, the PTI chief had challenged the commission’s authority to hear the case. – APP Tahir Khalil adds: On the other hand, while talking to the media, the lawyer of PTI Shahid Gondal said that they had challenged the jurisdiction of contempt of court of Election Commission of Pakistan and the ECP had announced its ruling on their preliminary objection. He said that they would challenge this ruling in the Islamabad High Court (IHC). Shahid Gondal said that senior lawyer Babar Awan had said that the ECP was not entitled to kick-start contempt proceedings. According to news agencies, Babar Awan further said the Constitution of Pakistan entitled the Supreme Court of Pakistan and high courts alone for the contempt proceedings, adding it was imperative for a contempt proceeding that the ECP had the corresponding law. It should be mentioned here that the ECP had reserved the verdict on Imran Khan’s petition during the previous hearing on July 25. It should be also mentioned here that earlier in a statement Imran Khan had declared the ECP biased in party funding case and accused the ECP’s tilt towards the ruling party. On this statement of Imran, founder member of PTI Akbar S Babar had submitted contempt of court petition against Imran Khan with the ECP.

LAHORE: Kulsoom Nawaz on late Thursday signed nomination papers as PML-N has decided to field former first lady for by-poll in NA-120 Lahore-III, fell vacant after disqualification of former PM Nawaz Sharif. According to details, Kalsoom Nawaz’s nomination papers would be submitted today (Friday, Aug 10) for NA-120 by-poll as name of former first lady emerged as PML-N candidate for the seat (that) fell vacant after disqualification of ex-premier Nawaz Sharif. However, late Thursday it was revealed that PML-N leadership had earlier agreed on giving the contesting rights to Kulsoom Nawaz. Though Kalsoom Nawaz successfully led the party’s movement for the release of her incarcerated husband after a military coup by Gen Musharraf in 1999, she never contested election to actively part in Pak politics. It is to mention here that the former prime minister had earlier wished his younger brother Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif to succeed him as prime minister (after contesting from NA-120 to become a National Assembly member). Later, the name of Shahbaz was apparently withdrawn after some senior party members apprehended that in the absence of younger Sharif from Punjab not only the pace of ongoing mega projects in the province would be affected but the party’s energies would also be diverted to his election. PTI fields Yasmeen Rashid for NA-120 by-poll Meanwhile, it is learnt that Yasmeen Rashid would also submit her nomination papers as PTI has alrady decided to field for NA-12 by-poll. Candidates for the NA-120 by-election started filing nomination papers from Thursday (August 10). According to media reports, as many as thirty-five candidates have received nomination papers for the by-poll scheduled to be held on September 17. Submission of the papers will take place between August 10-12. The scrutiny of the papers will be held between August 15 and 17, while the final list of candidates will be issued on August 26, according to the ECP.

ISLAMABAD – The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) on Wednesday filed a petition with the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), asking the electoral body to restrain former prime minister Nawaz Sharif from leading or taking part in political activities. The petition was prepared by Babar Awan, and was submitted by party’s contender for forthcoming NA-120 by-poll in Lahore, Yasmin Rashid, under Section 5 of the Political Parties Order 2002. The petition was filed hours before Nawaz left for his “homecoming” rally for Lahore from Islamabad via the Grand Trunk (GT) Road. The petitioner argued that the former premier be declared ineligible for membership of any political party on the basis of disqualification, and the party carrying his name should be enlisted as a banned organisation. The petition further demanded that using Nawaz’s name for the party must be declared as contrary to law and Constitution. On July 28th, a five-member Supreme Court bench hearing the Panama Papers case of the Sharif family’s offshore assets had disqualified Nawaz from the PM’s office. This news was published in The Nation newspaper. Read complete newspaper of 10-Aug-2017.

ISLAMABAD: The Election Bill 2017, providing for complete financial and administrative autonomy and independence of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), was introduced in the National Assembly on Monday. The bill was introduced by Law Minister Zahid Hamid after the house condoned, on a motion moved by Finance Minister and Parliamentary Committee on Electoral Reforms chairman Ishaq Dar, a delay in the presentation of its report that was due in October 2014. After the bill was tabled, the assembly also adopted the law minister’s motion seeking to dispense with the requirement of referring it to the standing committee concerned. Explaining the salient features of the bill, Mr Hamid said the remuneration for the commissioner, members, officers and staff of the ECP and all its administrative and other expenditures would come from the federal consolidated fund. Advertisement Election bill introduced in National Assembly He said an official appointed or deputed to perform election duties would be deemed to be under the discipline of the ECP. Under the proposed law, the commission may, for reasons to be recorded in writing, suspend or withdraw any election official, public servant or any other person in the service of Pakistan who attempts to or obstructs or prevents the conduct of fair and impartial polls, tries to or interferes with a voter when he casts his vote, attempts to or influences the polling staff or a voter, does any other act calculated to influence the result of an election or disobeys or avoids to carry out any instructions issued by the ECP. The minister said the ECP would have the power to make its own rules. The bill provides for automatic enrolment as voter of a person issued a computerised national identity card on attaining the age of 18 years. The candidates will get soft copies of the electoral rolls with photographs of the voters on them. The polling staff will be appointed two months before the polls and will take the oath to work in accordance with the law and instructions of the ECP. The distance between polling stations will not be more than 1km. The proposed law also provides for installation of surveillance cameras at polling stations declared sensitive. It seeks to curb mushroom growth of political parties by making it mandatory for a new party to have at least 2,000 members and deposit a registration fee of Rs200,000. If the turnout of women voters is less than 10 per cent, the ECP may declare void the polling at one or more polling stations or in the whole constituency. If the variation in the number of men and women voters in a constituency is more than 10pc, special measures will be taken by the ECP to address it. The bill increases the limit of election expenses to Rs4 million for National Assembly, Rs2m for provincial assemblies and Rs1.5m for the Senate. In case of failure to file an annual wealth statement, the ECP may suspend the membership of a legislator and if the default continues beyond 60 days, it will issue a show-cause notice for termination of the membership. The commission will scrutinise the wealth statements and may order prosecution in case of a false declaration. An interesting proposal in the bill is that in case of an equal number of votes obtained by two candidates, each will become a member for half term. Persons with physical disabilities will be able to vote through postal ballot. Published in Dawn, August 8th, 2017

ISLAMABAD: A code of conduct issued by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Wednesday barring Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif from taking part in his own poll campaign for a by-election to NA-120 left observers bewildered. The National Assembly seat in Lahore fell vacant upon the disqualification of prime minister Nawaz Sharif by the Supreme Court last week. The polling has been scheduled for Sept 17. “After the issuance of schedule of by-election, the president, prime minister, chairman and deputy chairman senate, speakers of assemblies, federal ministers, ministers of state, governor, chief minister, provincial ministers and advisers to the prime minister and the chief minister, members of the national and provincial assemblies and other public office-holders will neither visit the area of any constituency nor shall openly or in secret give any subscription or donation or make promise for giving such subscription or donation to any institution of a constituency, nor shall inaugurate, commit to undertake or announce any development project therein for the advancement of the campaign of a candidate of his choice and thereby influence the results of election,” reads the code of conduct issued for the crucial electoral battle in the provincial capital. According to the code of conduct, all these public office-holders, including the Punjab chief minister who is a potential candidate for the by-election to NA-120, have been restrained from visiting the constituency or a polling station after the issuance of the poll schedule. It warned that legal action would be taken under Section 103A of the Representation of the Peoples Act 1976, relating to contempt proceedings, against any individual found in violation of the rules. Observers wonder how CM can be barred from canvassing if the law permits a candidate to run for a house even if he is a member of another The code of conduct was issued by the ECP in pursuance of Article 218(3) of the Constitution, read with Article 220, and Article 18 of the Political Parties Order of 2002 (Chief Executive’s Order No 18 of 2002), Workers Party of Pakistan Case (PLD 2012 so 681) and all other related powers. “The contents of this code of conduct shall be considered as directives of ECP and violation of any of its clauses thereof shell be proceeded against under Article 204 of the constitution, read with Section 103A of the Representation of the Peoples’ Act,” the preamble to the code warns. Observers wondered how the holder of a public office could be barred from taking part in his own election campaign even though the law permitted a legislator to contest election for another house without tendering resignation. They believed the code of conduct would confuse the returning officer even more than it did the ECP. A senior official of the ECP said a clear picture would emerge after the submission of nomination papers by Shahbaz Sharif for the by-election to NA-120. He said the code had been issued as a standard practice and might be amended by the commission if the sitting chief minister’s candidature was accepted. He agreed with an interpretation that the Supreme Court’s judgement barring public office-holders from electioneering in the Workers Party case was general in nature. “This is a unique situation because if the chief minister of Punjab files nomination papers, he will not be campaigning for somebody else but for himself and this right can in no way be taken away from him.” The ECP also reminded candidates that their election expenses should not exceed Rs 1.5 million and they must use a dedicated account for all transactions related to poll expenses. Published in Dawn, August 3rd, 2017

The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has announced the schedule for election in NA-120, which was left vacant after the disqualification of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif. According to the ECP schedule released on Tuesday, the election in NA-120 will take place on September 17, while candidates will be able to submit their nomination papers between August 10-12. The ECP will review nomination papers between August 15-17. Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif and Dr Yasmeen Rashid are expected to contest the election on tickets of PML-N and Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaaf, respectively. The Supreme Court, in its verdict on the Panamagate case, had found Nawaz Sharif “unfit to hold office”, following which the PML-N leader stepped down from his post. Shortly after, the ECP also issued a notification disqualifying Nawaz Sharif as a member of the National Assembly

ISLAMABAD: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) under the new Elections Bill 2017 will start immediately the formulations of new election rules without awaiting its passage from Parliament and consent by the president of Pakistan. The ECP shall delimit the national and provincial assemblies in the light of census-2017. Variation of population amongst constituencies in the same assembly from the same province or territory has been restricted to 10%. The ECP shall appoint District Returning Officers, Returning Officers and Assistant Returning Officers at least sixty days prior to the issuance of the Election Programme of the general elections. In the new Election Bill-2017 nomination form has been simplified. If the victory margin between the returned candidate and runner-up candidate is less than 5% of the total polled or ten thousands votes, whichever is less, the Returning Officer as per new Election Bill-2017 shall recount all the votes on the request of contesting candidate before commencement of the consolidation of the results. The main features of the Election Bill- 2017 are as under: A. Amalgamation of eight election laws: The following 8 existing laws relating to elections have been amalgamated in the Elections Bill, 2017: The Electoral Rolls Act, 1974 (Act No. XXI of 1974); the Delimitation of Constituencies Act, 1974 (Act No. XXXIV of 1974); the Senate (Election) Act, 1975 (Act No. LI of 1975); the Representation of the People Act, 1976 (Act No. LXXXV of 1976): the Election Commission Order, 2002 (Chief Executive’s Order No.1 of 2002); the Conduct of General Elections Order, 2002 (Chief Executive’s Order No.7 of 2002); the Political Parties Order, 2002(Chief Executive’s Order No_18 of 2002); and The Allocation of Symbols Order, 2002. B. Chapters of Elections Bill, 2017: The Elections Bill, 2017 has the following 15 Chapters (with 241 sections): I. Preliminary; II. Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP); III Delimitation of Constituencies; IV. Electoral Rolls; V. Conduct of Elections to Assemblies; VI. Elections to Reserved Seats in the Assemblies; VII. Conduct of Elections to the Senate; VIII. Election Expenses and Wealth Statements; IX. Election Disputes; X. Offences, Penalties and Procedures; XI. Political Parties; XII. Allocation of Symbols; XIII. Conduct of elections to the Local Governments ; XIV. Caretaker Government; XV. Miscellaneous. C. Election Rules, 2017: Election Rules have also been prepared by the ECP to facilitate/expedite implementation of the new act. Each chapter in the act will have a matching chapter in the rules. D. Major Reforms: 1. Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP): (a) The ECP has been greatly strengthened and has been made fully independent and autonomous: It has directly been empowered to issue specific directions for performance of its duties, which shall be enforced throughout Pakistan in the same manner as if these have been issued by a high court. It will have full administrative powers to control transfer of election officials during elections and take disciplinary action against them for misconduct. The commissioner will have full financial powers, including power to create posts within its approved budgetary allocations. All expenditure of ECP will be charged upon the Federal Consolidated Fund within the meaning of Article 81 of the Constitution. ECP has been empowered to make Rules without prior approval of the president or government. Rules will be subject to prior publication, seeking suggestions etc. within 15 days of such publication. (b) ECP shall prepare a comprehensive Action Plan six months before the elections specifying all legal and administrative measures that have been taken or are required to be taken. (c) ECP has been authorised to redress complaints/grievances during various stages of the election process (other than challenge to the election itself under Article 225). Its decisions will be appealable to the Supreme Court of Pakistan. (d) ECP shall establish a transparent results management system for expeditious counting, compilation and dissemination of the election results. (e) ECP has been empowered to delegate its functions to its members and officers. (f) ECP shall conduct training programmes for election officials and take measures to promote public awareness regarding laws and best practices. (g) ECP shall upload on its website list of constituencies, election results and decisions on complaints etc. 2. Delimitation: (a) ECP shall delimit constituencies after every census. (b)Variation of population amongst constituencies in the same assembly from the same province or territory has been restricted to 10 %. 3. Electoral Rolls: (a) Nadra shall transmit relevant data of every CNIC issued by it to the ECP so that every citizen who obtains a CNIC from Nadra can automatically be enrolled as voter at his permanent or temporary address on the basis of his option in the application for issuance of CNIC. (b) Registration of voter at an address other than the permanent or temporary address mentioned in his CNIC shall remain valid till he applies for transfer of vote or modification or renewal of CNIC. (c) Hard and soft (in USB-PDF format) copies of electoral rolls (with photographs of voters) will be provided to all candidates on payment of costs; and it will be ensured that these are the same copies as available with the Returning Officer and Presiding Officers. (d) ECP shall take special measures for registration of women, non-Muslims, persons with disabilities and transgender citizens as voters. 4. Conduct of Elections: (a)Election Officials: ECP shall appoint District Returning Officers, Returning Officers and Assistant Returning Officers at least sixty days prior to the issuance of the Election Programme of the general elections. All election officials shall make an oath before commencement of their duties that they shall act strictly in accordance with the act, rules and directions of the ECP. (b) Polling Stations: As far as practicable, the distance between a polling station and the voters assigned to it shall not exceed one kilometer. List of polling stations/polling scheme shall be published at least thirty days before the polling day. ECP will be empowered to install surveillance cameras in highly sensitive polling stations for remote monitoring of activities in such polling stations. (c) Nomination Papers: Nomination form has been simplified and the same form has been prescribed for candidates for all seats. Nominations/candidature fees for the National Assembly, provincial assemblies and Senate shall be Rs30,000/-, Rs20,000/-, and Rs20,000/-, respectively. While scrutinising a nomination paper, the Retuning Officer shall not ask any question which has no nexus to the information, supplied or received or objections raised by any person, or tangible material on record. In case of any default on payment of taxes, loans, utility expenses or other government duties, a candidate may clear the default at the time of scrutiny of the nomination papers, except in the case of wilful concealment. (d) Ballot Papers: ECP will itself determine constituency-wise requirements of ballot papers based on the formula that number of ballot papers per polling station shall be equal to the number of voters at the polling station, rounded off to the next hundred. Persons with any physical disability holding CNIC with a logo for physical disability will be able to cast their votes through postal ballot. (e) Counting and Compilation: Tendered votes will be counted by the Returning Officer. The material relating to tendered votes will be sent to Nadra for forensic inquiry to identify the impersonator so that consequential criminal proceedings can be initiated against him by the ECP. To make the counting process and tabulation/compilation of results more transparent: (i) The Presiding Officer, senior-most Assistant Presiding Officer and representatives of the candidates shall sign the result of the count and ballot paper account. In case anyone fails to sign, the Presiding Officer shall record a note to that effect. (ii) The Presiding Officer will provide a copy of the result of the count and ballot paper account to the candidates, their representatives, and will send copies of these documents to the Returning Officer and to the authorised officer of ECP. The Returning Officer shall immediately prepare a provisional result of the constituency and will finally consolidate the result within three days from the polling day or within five days in case of recounting of votes. If the victory margin between the returned candidate and runner-up candidate is less than 5% of the total votes polled or 10,000 votes, whichever is less, the Returning Officer shall recount all the votes on the request of a contesting candidate before commencement of the consolidation of the results. [This will be in addition to the ECP’s power to order the Returning Officer to recount all the votes before the conclusion of consolidation proceedings, for reasons to be recorded.] If a candidate fails to avail recount option at this stage, he will be debarred from claiming this relief from the Tribunal. In case of equality of votes between two candidates, both will be declared returned candidates and each shall become Member for half of the term of the assembly. The candidate who will be member for the first half of the term will be determined by draw of lots. In case of equality of votes between three or more candidates, there shall be re-election in the constituency. The ECP shall notify the returned candidate within fourteen days of the polling day. (f) EVMs, BVI and Overseas Voting: ECP may conduct pilot projects for utilisation of electronic voting machines (EVMs) and Biometric Voters Identification (BVI) system in bye-elections in addition to the existing manual procedures for voter verification, casting and counting of votes to assess their technical efficacy, secrecy, security and financial feasibility. The ECP may also undertake pilot projects for voting by Overseas Pakistanis. (g) Election Documents: All election-related documents including statements of count and ballot paper accounts, except the ballot papers, shall be public documents and may be inspected or copies thereof obtained. ECP shall retain election-related documents in tamper-evident sealed bags in storage space under its control at appropriate places. 5. Election expenses and wealth statement: (a) Maximum limits of election expenses shall be rupees four million for National Assembly, rupees two million for provincial assembly, and rupees one and half million for Senate elections. (b) Election expenses shall be monitored by District Monitoring Teams of the ECP. ECP may impose fines in case of violation of the act or the rules. (c) Return of election expenses shall be scrutinised by the ECP. In case of failure to file the return, the ECP may direct prosecution of the defaulting candidate for the offence of illegal practice. (d) Every member of an assembly or Senate will be required to submit annual wealth statement in the same form as is submitted under the Income Tax Ordinance, 2001. In case of failure to file wealth statement, the ECP may suspend membership of the defaulting member and if the default continues beyond 60 days, shall issue show cause notice for termination of his membership. (e) The commission shall scrutinise the wealth statement and in case it is found to be false, the commission may direct prosecution of the member for the offence of corrupt practice. 6. Election Disputes: (a) The election dispute resolution system has been made more expeditious and result-oriented by including provisions for: (i) case management; (ii) day-to-day trial; (iii) mandatory costs for adjournments; (iv) suspension of the member for deliberate delay; and (v) decision within four months. (b) A candidate may file an election petition directly with the Election Tribunal. (c) The discretion of a tribunal to declare a candidate other than the returned candidate as elected has been confined to his obtaining more votes or where voters have deliberately “thrown away” their votes in favour of the returned candidate fully knowing that he was not qualified or was disqualified from being elected. (d) The tribunal may order fresh polls in one or more polling stations. 7. Offences, penalties and procedures: (a) The commission may direct summary trial of an electoral offence in accordance with the provisions of Chapter XX of the Cr. P.C. (b) The head of the district police shall intimate progress of any investigation of an election offence to the ECP. 8. Political parties: (a) To check mushroom growth of political parties, conditions for enlistment of a new political party with the ECP will include, in addition to existing requirements, minimum two thousand members and Rs200,000 enlistment fee. (b) A political party shall submit to the ECP annual financial statement and list of donors who have donated Rs100,000 and above to the political party. 9. Allocation of symbols: (a) Symbols allocated to the political parties and candidates should be visibly different from each other. (b) If an enlisted political party fails to comply with the provisions of the act, it will be disentitled for allocation of symbol for the election. 10. Local governments: (a) Constituency of a local government shall be delimited by the delimitation committee set up by the ECP for each district. (b) Provisions of the act relating to delimitation, appointment of election officials, preparation of list of polling stations, conduct of elections, election disputes, offences, penalties and procedures and allocation of symbols shall, as nearly as possible, apply to the conduct of local government elections. 11. Caretaker governments: (a) Performance of functions by the caretaker government has been confined to day-to-day, routine, non-controversial matters that are necessary to run the affairs of government. (b) A caretaker government shall not take major policy decisions except on urgent matters. (c) Members of a caretaker government shall also submit their wealth statement to ECP as required for members of Parliament. 12. Code of Conduct: ECP may, in consultation with the political parties, issue a code of conduct for political parties, candidates and election/polling agents. It may also issue codes of conduct for media, security personnel and election observers. 13. Election observers: ECP may grant accreditation to domestic and international election observers, who will be required to submit reports of their observations/suggestions to the ECP relating to the conduct of elections. 14. Special Measures for Women: Special measures to encourage participation of women in the electoral process, including registration of women voters and actual voting on polling day, include: (a) ECP shall conduct awareness in media campaigns for registration of women voters, and their participation in elections. (b) If the variation in the number of men and women voters in a constituency is more than 10%, special measures will be taken by ECP to reduce such variation. (c) The Presiding Officer will submit gender-segregated figures of voters in each polling station. (d) If the turnout of women voters is less than 10% of the total votes polled in the constituency, ECP may presume that women have been restrained through an agreement from casting their votes and may declare polling at one or more polling stations, or election in the whole constituency, void. (e) Political parties shall encourage women membership and award at least 5% party tickets to women candidates on general sets.

ISLAMABAD: Facing the charge of receiving funds from unauthorised means, the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf has now called for scrutiny of the accounts and funds of all political parties, specifically the religious parties. Claiming that the PTI has submitted complete record of the party funds and accounts as well as a list of all donors to the Supreme Court, PTI spokesman Fawad Chaudhry said that now it was the turn of other political parties, including the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-N (PML-N) and religious parties, to disclose their sources of funds. Speaking at a news conference along with the party’s former information secretary Naeemul Haq here on Monday, the PTI spokesman asked the country’s intelligence agencies to find out the sources of funds of the religious parties. “We have presented our record. We hope that the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) and other institutions will now ask (about the source of funding) from other parties,” he said, adding that instead of treating overseas Pakistanis with suspicion, secret agencies and other institutions should probe “funding of the PML-N and religious parties with keen eye”. PPP rejects allegation of receiving funds from abroad Fawad Chaudhry, who is one of the legal advisers of PTI chief Imran Khan, alleged that Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam (JUI-F) had been receiving funds from Libya whereas there were parties which received funds from Saudi Arabia and Iran. The PTI leader said his party had been asked to provide details of its accounts and funds only for the period between 2010 and 2013, but they had submitted the seven-year record till March 2017. Showing the bulk of documents, he claimed that the party had submitted the list of more than 30,000 Pakistanis living in the US who had contributed to the party funds. Over the past seven years, he said, the party had received more than $3 million and all transactions had been made through “official banking channel”. He said that under the US laws, individuals could not donate funds directly to parties, so the PTI had to hire services of “agent companies” for the purpose. Fawad Chaudhry claimed that all members of the board of governors of these companies were overseas Pakistanis and their details had also been provided to the Supreme Court, adding that that 99 per cent of the donors had donated the amount between $10 and $15. He said the PTI did not have big donors like Osama bin Laden who, he alleged, had provided billions of rupees to the PML-N. On the other hand, he said, the Joint Investigation Team, which probed the money laundering allegations against the Sharif family, had revealed that Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif had donated Rs145m to the PML-N. But, he claimed, there was no mention of this amount in the accounts details of the PML-N. “Where has this money gone? This shows that Nawaz Sharif has used the PML-N for money laundering,” he said, criticising the ECP and other financial institutions for not taking action against the ruling party. He criticised Defence Minister Khawaja Asif for accusing Imran Khan of misusing the charity money and said the minister had not been able to even establish a dispensary in his hometown Sialkot, but always remained active in criticising the projects like Shaukat Khanum Cancer Hospital. Naeemul Haq claimed that the PTI had not violated any law of the country while receiving funds from abroad. He said the PTI had also submitted to the court details of the accounts of other political parties so that it could make a comparison. Money trail documents PTI secretary general Jahangir Tareen posted on his official Twitter account images of the documents which Imran Khan had submitted to the Supreme Court to prove the money trail for the purchase of his flat in London. Mr Khan, while speaking at a news conference on Sunday, had shown some of the documents to journalists and said he had provided complete details of his banking transactions to the court and money trail for not only his London flat, but also Banigala property. PPP rebuttal Spokesman for the Pakistan People’s Party Senator Farhatullah Babar on Monday rejected the PTI’s allegation that the party had received funds from abroad. “Neither the party has received funds from abroad nor it has held fund-raising events in any foreign country at any time,” Mr Babar said while commenting on reports that the PTI had submitted some documents before the ECP claiming that the PPP had also received foreign funding. Mr Babar said the PPP was funded entirely by the money raised in Pakistan while the overseas units of the party financed themselves locally there in accordance with the laws of the country. Published in Dawn, July 25th, 2017

Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has asked political parties to submit their statement of accounts for the outgoing financial year by 29th of next month, reported Radio Pakistan. According to the Election Commission, printed forms are available in the Election Commission Secretariat, Islamabad and in the offices of the Provincial Election Commissioners. Prescribed form-I can also be downloaded from the ECP’s website. The Commission has advised leaders of all political parties to submit the statement of accounts of their parties, duly audited by a Chartered Accountant. It said the statement received through post, fax, courier service or any other mode will not be entertained.

ISLAMABAD: European Union (EU) Ambassador Jean-Francois Cautain has said that the EU is willing to support Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) in implementing electoral reforms. EU Ambassador Jean-Francois Cautain called on Finance Minister Ishaq Dar at the Ministry of Finance on Monday and exchanged views on Pak-EU economic cooperation, especially in the context of important agreements currently under discussion between the two sides. The ambassador informed the minister of the EU’s intention of supporting nutrition in Sindh and apprised him of the discussions held with federal and provincial governments in this regard. Finance Minister Ishaq Dar appreciated the EU offer of cooperation and said that the Ministry of Finance would extend all possible cooperation in this regard. He informed the ambassador that the Parliamentary Committee on Electoral Reforms had carried out extensive work with the aim of improving and consolidating various election related laws into a single law. The committee was represented by all the Parliamentary parties and had been able to develop consensus on most of the issues. He said that the work of the committee was in final stages and once approved the new legislation would mark a major improvement in the election process in the country. The new reforms will make the election process much more transparent. The minister appreciated the continued support that EU has extended to Pakistan in various areas. He assured all out support to Mr. Jean-Cautain in his endeavours for enhancing Pak-EU economic partnership. The EU ambassador thanked the Minister for supporting the initiatives of the EU mission in Pakistan for enhancing the mutual relationship.

Detailed census Next month’s census is going to be the blueprint for public policy over the next decade and as such it is important that as many details as possible are collected. Funds for everything from welfare payments to health and education will be apportioned and allocated on the basis of the census. The effectiveness of such programmes is dependent on knowing exactly where money needs to be spent. This is why the medical community is suggesting the government collect data on five major diseases — diabetes, hypertension, obesity, hepatitis and cardiac illness — in the census. A petition filed in the Supreme Court has also asked for the census to include information about disabled people. The government and Supreme Court should follow through since collecting and analysing information on physical and mental health issues will give it a better idea of emerging health problems and reveal if there are regional differences in the incidence of these problems, thus allowing it to distribute resources based on that data. Diabetes, in particular, is believed to be disproportionately prevalent in Pakistan, with more than seven percent of the population thought to suffer from the disease. But such figures are only a rough estimation since no systemic data has been collected. The census is the best opportunity to rectify that. Getting better health statistics is important not only for the government to devise better public health strategies but for private researchers too. The 1998 census did collect information on disabilities but it was done in such a shoddy and unscientific manner that it is continuing to affect policies on helping the disabled to this day. That census found that about 2.5 percent of the population is suffering from disabilities, an extraordinarily low number likely caused by the social stigma of admitting to a disability. Of those who identified as disabled, about eight percent were classified as “mentally retarded”, once again not something most people would admit and which doesn’t distinguish between various kinds of disability. These low official numbers mean very few resources are devoted to helping the disabled. This time around, the government has to do a more thorough job in collecting data and allow researchers to analyse it so they can identify health issues in the country and work towards solutions. It is believed, for example, that the poor and lower urban middle class are more likely to suffer from hypertension than the wealthy and those who live in rural areas because of dietary and lifestyle reasons. But the only data we have on the issue is the National Health Survey, whose sampling is done on the basis of the 1998 census. Having these statistics available in the census itself would be invaluable in proving the hypothesis and developing strategies to counter it.

Islamabad Main census form developed by the government does not carry a disability column making it impossible to count the number of Persons with Disability (PWDs) during the upcoming census. The concern was raised at a press conference organized by the Special Talent Exchange (STEP) under the platform of Aging Disability Task Force (ADTF). The task force includes STEP, Sightsavers, Handicap International, CBM, HelpAge International, LCDDP, Milestone and ASHA and Launch of a Campaign ‘Do Count Us’ (Hamain Shumar Karo). The speakers stressed the need of data collection of PWDs as it will provide the exact number of persons with disabilities making it possible to work on the barriers they face in a specific location due to specific form of disability. They said that disaggregation of data by disability is a key step in including persons with disabilities who encounter higher rates of poverty and exclusion from society. Chief Executive Officer for National Forum of Women with Disability Abia Akram said that it is critical to remember that persons with disabilities (10 to 15% of the total population) are amongst the most likely segment of the society to live in poverty, to be denied their development rights, their right to makes choices over their bodies, to achieve justice and remedies when experiencing gender based violence, to enjoy their right to education, meaningful and decent work, to control resources and to participate in public life. She said that the issue has been raised by the Parliamentarians at the floor of the house but they were told that the forms have already been printed and there can be no change in the forms at this stage. “All we want is to attach a separate paper with the form, make changes in the software and train the data collectors on collection of information on PWDs,” she said suggesting that census is an opportunity to finally make the right and targeted policies for PWDs. Abia said that people, especially in rural areas, tend to hide information about the PWDs in their families. “Comprehensive research on questions for PWDs for the census has already been in the developed countries. We suggest that if ‘Washington Group of Questions for PWDs’ are attached with the form, we will be able to get a clearer picture on the PWD data,” said Abia. Director General of Special Education Institutions for National Training Centre for Special persons talked about the barriers faced by the persons with disability in education sector. Ali Shabbar from STEP talked about the importance of disaggregation of data by disability. Rabia Hadi from Elimination of Violence against Women and Girls Alliance termed it concerning that PWDs were first ensured by the government that special columns for disability will be included in the main census form but it was not there in the final form. Fariha Bajwa from National Commission on the Status of Women said that the first barrier that persons with disabilities encounter is statistics. If the government does not know the number of people who need specific intervention, treatment, training and rehabilitation, the budgetary allocations can never meet the needs. Speakers said that the government policies that privatize public services, reduce the commons and value economic growth over human rights have a devastating impact on persons with disabilities particularly women with disabilities. “This is not just a human rights argument to inclusion, but also a strong economic one. The International Labour Organisation (ILO) estimates that the economic losses incurred through excluding persons with disabilities from the world of work are as high as 3-7 per cent of global GDP,” they said adding that failing to address these issues is going to impact on the country’s ability to achieve the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals, especially given their motto ‘Leave No One Behind’.

IN a country that gave the Muslim world its first woman prime minister, it is surprising to see opposition to measures designed to bring out the women’s vote. A proposal to order re-election in any constituency where women have cast less than 10pc of the vote has been under discussion for a while now, but is being resisted by the JUI-F and the Jamaat-i-Islami. Both parties claim the proposal amounts to “forcing women to vote” and such mandatory measures should be avoided. But in a country like Pakistan, where it is so important to increase women’s political participation and where their right to vote is not always respected, it makes perfect sense for there to be a requirement that a minimum threshold of women’s votes be present in any election for it to be considered fair and representative. We need more robust assurances that parties have not colluded to suppress the women’s vote in certain constituencies, like Lower Dir, where this has happened more than once. In the last by-election there in May 2015, none of the 50,000 registered women voters cast their ballots, because some of the religious parties who are opposing the current proposal had joined hands to ensure that women would not turn out to vote. Maybe the reason why these parties are opposed to measures designed to encourage the women’s vote is that they have difficulty in mobilising that segment — or perhaps, in winning their vote. In fact, the requirement of 10pc minimum women’s vote is too low, and in time should be raised further. And on top of that, women’s votes should be recorded in more detail at the polling station level, to reflect not just the number of votes cast by them, but also give a party-wise breakdown. This will facilitate greater analysis of the role of the women’s vote in various constituencies across Pakistan, and help incentivise parties to seek this vote as their political strategy rather than trying to suppress it.