ISLAMABAD: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has barred political parties from contesting polls which failed to submit their financial record on time. An official notice of the ECP said, “Political parties that did not submit their financial records before the final submission date, which was August 29, will not be allowed to contest any future elections, neither will they be assigned election symbols.” It said that out of 345 political parties registered with the ECP, only 31 submitted their financial records before the final date. Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-Pakistan), Pakistan Muslim League-Functional (PML-F), PML-Zia, PML-Junejo and Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party are among those parties, which failed to submit their financial records before the ECP. The ECP recalled that, according to Article 14 of the Political Parties Order 2002, a party which does not submit its bank statements under Article 13 will not be eligible for obtaining an election symbol to contest elections for parliament and the provincial assemblies. According to ECP spokesperson Haroon Shinwari, the ban will stay until the parties submit their assets details before the ECP. “If a party submits the financial details at a later stage, it will become eligible to contest election,” he said. The ECP had reminded all the political parties to submit a consolidated statement of its bank accounts on Form-1 duly audited by a chartered accountant within 60 days of the close of each financial year, Shinwari added.
Published in Daily Times, August 31st 2017.
