ISLAMABAD: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has summoned a representative of the Pakistan Muslim League-Functional (PML-F) for a hearing on September 30 for the party’s failure to respond to queries about its funds and failure to file statement of accounts for the year 2024-25.
According to its cause list, the electoral body sent a notice to the PML-F in this connection.
The subject of the notice reads: “Failure to respond to queries raised on Form-D 2022-23 and 2023-24 and failure in filing of Form-D for the year 2024-25 on due date under Section 210 by PML-F.”
An ECP official, when contacted on mobile phone, said the PML-F had filed the consolidated statement of accounts for the financial year 2024-25 but not on or before the last date to do so, which was August 29.
The official noted that now a representative of the PML-F would appear before the ECP bench to explain the party’s position.
The PML-F is part of the five-party electoral alliance named Grand Democratic Alliance.
Under the sections 204 and 210 of the Elections Act, 2017 and the rules 159 and 160 of the Election Rules, 2017, all the political parties are required to file with the ECP their consolidated statement of accounts annually on or before August 29 each year.
The Section 210 of the Act provides that a political party shall, in such a manner as may be prescribed, submit to the commission, within sixty days from the close of a financial year, a consolidated statement of its accounts audited by a chartered accountant on Form-D containing details of annual income and expenses, sources of funds, and assets and liabilities.
The statement should also have a certificate signed by an office-bearer authorised by the party head stating that no funds were received by the party from any source prohibited under the Elections Act, 2017.
