Election Commission of Pakistan Special Secretary Zafar Iqbal assured on Thursday that the electoral watchdog was “fully prepared” for elections and would hold the polls by October 11 if the National Assembly was dissolved on August 12, when its five-year term comes to an end.
He added that the elections will be held based on the delimitation done after the 2017 census.
“Any party or candidate found exceeding the election expenditure limit will face legal action. We have established a [system] political finance MIS for monitoring their finances,” said an ECP official.
The ECP officials revealed that information will be gathered from six institutions, including the FBR, SBP, NADRA, SECP, and others to scrutinise the finances of political parties and candidates. They said that notices will be issued to those who exceed the election expenditure limit, and legal action will be taken in accordance with the law.
Secretary ECP Omar Hamid Khan stated that the commission is prepared for holding elections within 90 or 60 days. “The preparations for elections have been completed as per the old constituencies. If a new delimitation takes place, decisions will be made according to the law and Constitution.”
Regarding the issue of prohibited funding of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), Special Secretary Zafer Iqbal said that the matter is sub-judice. “The registrars of all five high courts have been written to, requesting ROs, but no response has been received yet,” he further said.
Last month, parliament made amendments to the Election Act 2017 that made changes to the electoral process.
The bill was approved by Sadiq Sanjarani, who was the interim president at the time.
Senate Chairman Sanjrani, assumed the role of acting president as President Arif Alvi left for Saudi Arabia to perform Hajj, signed the summary forwarded by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.
Under the amendments the the disqualification of a parliamentarian has been limited to a maximum of five years, paving the way for those barred for life from running for public office.
