Election expenses ceiling: The most abused poll law

ISLAMABAD: The mandatory legal stipulation fixing election expenses is Pakistan’s most abused and transgressed law as hardly any contesting candidate follows it or can practically stick to it even if he wills.

As a result, the low expense ceiling forces the contenders to lie, a perjury that has never attracted punishment. Lawmakers have hardly ever thought of undoing the expenditure restriction altogether to save the contestants from the imposed falsity. “We are closely monitoring the expenses being incurred by the aspirants and proceed where we think it is required,” an Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) official told The News. “We always implement the law in this connection.”

It is impossible for almost every federal or provincial competitor to remain within the set amount of expenses. The prescribed funds do not even suffice to foot the bill of the polling day when hundreds of vehicles, tents, chairs etc., are required by each and every candidate especially the potential ones.

The Elections Act says poll expenses mean any expenditure incurred before, during and after an election or payment made, whether by way of gift, loan, advance, deposit or otherwise, for the arrangement, conduct or benefit of, or in connection with or incidental to the election of a candidate, including the expenditure on account of issuing circulars or publications.

Under Section 132, a candidate contesting a Senate seat is permitted to spend a maximum of Rs1.5 million on his election. There is no logic or sense for this expenditure because such aspirants do not need to spend anything in the indirect election like those fighting for the direct federal and provincial polls when they have to tour their constituencies and make other elaborate arrangements, which involve a lot of money.

What is illegally and clandestinely spent by the candidates for the upper house seats, who don’t have the requisite number of voters and consequently have to indulge in the despicable game of buying votes, far exceeds the permitted limit of Rs1.5 million. This flooding of money is never accounted for, and it can’t be.

Section 132 says the expenses of a contesting candidate will not exceed Rs4 million and Rs2 million for election to a seat in the National Assembly and a provincial assembly respectively. It explains that the election expenses of a candidate will include what is incurred by any person or a political party on behalf of the contestant or incurred by a political party specifically for the aspirant. Where any person incurs any election expenses on behalf of a candidate, whether for stationery, postage, advertisement, transport or for any other item, these will be deemed to be the expenses done the contestant himself.

An aspirant will, through bills, receipts and other documents, vouch for every payment made in respect of expenses, except where the amount is less than Rs1,000. If expenses of a candidate are disputed, the ECP may conduct an enquiry to ascertain whether these, done by any person other than the candidate, were incurred with his permission and if the expenses were done without his permission, it would not be deemed to be expenses on behalf of the candidate.

According to Section 133, for purposes of his election expenses, a candidate will open an exclusive account with any branch of a scheduled bank before the date fixed for scrutiny of nomination papers and maintain, or cause to be maintained, a register of receipts and expenditures. A candidate will not make any transaction towards the election expenses through an account other than the one opened for the purpose. He may open the bank account for election expenses with an amount not exceeding the limit of expenses. A contestant, other than the returned candidate, will submit the return of his expenses within thirty days of the publication of the name of the winner. The returns will be submitted to the Returning Officer (RO).

Immediately on receipt, the returns and documents so submitted will be sent by the RO to the ECP, which will for a period of one year from the date of receipt by it be open to inspection by any person on payment. The ECP will, on such application, give any person copies of any return or document or any part thereof. The ECP will scrutinise or cause to be scrutinised the return of expenses submitted by each contesting candidate including the returned one. If it fails to finalise scrutiny of any return of expenses within ninety days, the return will be deemed to be scrutinised and accepted as correct.

Where after scrutiny, the ECP is of the view that a candidate has acted in contravention of these provisions, it will direct an authorised officer to file a complaint against such representative for committing the offence of corrupt practice. Where a contestant fails to file requisite returns within the specified period, the RO will cause a notice to be issued to him calling upon him to show cause why proceedings may not be initiated against him for failure to file requisite returns and if despite service of notice, he does not comply with the provisions, the RO will report the matter to the ECP.

On receipt of such report, the ECP will issue notice calling upon the candidate to show cause as to why a complaint may not be filed against him for failure to file requisite returns. The candidate may file an application for condonation of delay in filing the returns along with the return and the ECP may condone the delay, if it is satisfied that such failure was made in good faith due to circumstances beyond the control of the candidate, and accept the return. In case of rejection of application for condonation of delay, the ECP will direct an authorised officer to file a complaint against such candidate for committing the offence of illegal practice.