ISLAMABAD: The scrutiny committee of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) Thursday held out an assurance it will complete the audit of the accounts of Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PMLN) regarding illegal funding within two months.
In this connection, a three-member bench, headed by the chief election commissioner, heard the case regarding the progress of the scrutiny committee formed to examine the funding of political parties.
The head of the scrutiny committee, DG Law ECP Muhammad Arshad, appeared before the Election Commission bench, and was asked by Chief Election Commissioner Sikandar Sultan Raja as to why the report on PTI foreign funding was delayed so much. He replied that considerable delay was caused by the PTI in provision of required documents and likewise, PMLN and PPP were also delaying their records. He noted that if the Election Commission orders, the SBP will provide the details directly, pointing out that the scrutiny committee became inactive three to four times and that was also one cause of delay.
The chief election commissioner explained that the accounts of 17 more political parties may have to be scrutinised in due course of time. Then, he directed the scrutiny committee to prepare an early report on the accounts of PPP and PMLN and present it to the Election Commission.
Meanwhile, the Election Commission held hearing in connection with the disqualification reference of PTI’s 20 dissident MNAs and gave them time till May 6 to submit reply to the reference.
During the hearing, the lawyer for PTI MNA Noor Alam Khan raised objection to the reference and contended before the bench that his client had neither voted against the party policy nor resigned from the PTI to join another party. He also cited the Article 63A in this connection.
He continued that earlier, the court had given judgment that such references would be decided by the full bench of the Election Commission. He added such matter had come up in 2015 as well and an order was issued that the complete bench would take a decision on the reference.
Responding to him, PTI lawyer maintained that the responsibility of an incomplete Election Commission rests with the Parliament and the electoral body could not be blamed for this. He emphasised that as per the law, the Election Commission had to decide on the reference pertaining to the 20 dissident MNAs. The chief election commissioner assured that the matter would be decided within the stipulated time period.
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