Election 2018: Articles 62, 63 apply to all candidates, says ECP

ISLAMABAD: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Monday announced that the nomination papers, prepared by parliamentarians for the upcoming general election, will remain unchanged and all the candidates will have to meet the conditions defined in Articles 62 and 63 of the Constitution.

In a statement, the commission said the candidates will also have to give details about the national passport, dual nationality, default on utility bills and ongoing criminal cases.

Meanwhile, commission on Monday began issuing nomination papers to the candidates of various political parties, including the PPP, PTI and PML-N.

Several candidates obtained nomination papers from returning officers concerned in the twin cities.

There was more activity with regard to Islamabad’s three constituencies, where PTI’s Asad Umar, Jamaat-e-Islami’s Muhammad Aslam, PPP’s Haji Muhammad Afzal Khokhar, Raja Imran Ashraf and Pakistan Justice and Democratic Party’s Nosheen Gull received nomination papers. Nomination papers for provincial assemblies were also obtained.

The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) issued a slightly revised election schedule, according to which the nomination papers will be received from candidates from June 4 to June 8.

The security fee for the National Assembly constituency is Rs30,000 and Rs20,000 for a provincial assembly constituency.

The commission has established an online scrutiny cell at its secretariat here and in this context the pro forma and SOPs have already been provided to all the 849 returning officers.

The cell at the Election Commission Secretariat consists of four teams, which have been provided with fax, Internet and telephone facilities.

A special software has been prepared that has been fed to all the computers of the scrutiny cell.

The cell has been connected to the State Bank of Pakistan, the National Accountability Bureau, the Federal Board of Revenue and Nadra through a secure system.

The scrutiny cell will continue to function till June 14.

The commission has issued a statement stating that under the law it was legal obligation of all 849 returning officers (ROs) to carry out scrutiny of all candidates under Article 63 of the Constitution.

However, owing to paucity of time, it will be extremely difficult for the ROs to conduct scrutiny of all the details given in the nomination forms (by the candidates).

Therefore, the scrutiny cell has been set up here to assist the returning officers in their job.

The commission has formally notified allotment of symbols to as many as 103 political parties, which now qualify to take part in the upcoming general election in July 25.

Some major parties and the symbols allotted to them include the PPP-Parliamentarians (arrow), PPP (sword), PML-N (tiger), PTI (bat), MQM (kite), ANP (lantern), the National Party (saw), Balochistan National Party (axe), Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (book), Majlis Wahdat e Muslimeen Pakistan (tent) and PTI-Gulalai (racket).

Meanwhile, the Election Commission has clarified that the nomination papers for general and reserved seats are identical and can be obtained from the office of returning officer concerned by paying Rs100.

In a related development, the commission cancelled all the postings and transfers carried out by the federal government and provincial governments after the issuance of election schedule on May 31.

In this context, the commission issued a notification and said that under Article 218 of the Constitution read with Section 5 (4) read with Section 230 (f) of the Elections Act, 2017, it was pleased to direct all the federal and provincial governments that postings and transfers, which were made after the issuance of election schedule i.e. on May 31 stand canceled ab-initio and compliance report be submitted.

The commission directed the governments to send proposals for postings and transfers if so required expedient in public interest of officers and officials.

The commission maintained that under Article 2018 of the Constitution, it was its duty to conduct elections honestly, justly and fairly and guard against corrupt practices.

“The election programme for the conduct of general elections 2018 has been issued on May 31, 2018.

Section 5 (4) of the Elections Act, 2017, read with Section 230 (f) of the Elections Act, provides that no authority or government, including a caretaker government shall post or transfer of any official without prior approval in writing of the elections schedule after the Election Commission may itself issue directions to any such government or authority for posting/transfer of any official,” it noted.

However, the commission said it had come to its notice that some postings and transfers of officers had been made after the issuance of poll schedule without tis prior approval by the federal government and provincial governments, which are hence in violation of the provisions of the Elections Act, 2017.

The other day, the Election Commission had issued a notice about the postings and transfers and announced to release certain orders in this connection shortly.