The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has become useless and defunct, Chief Justice of Pakistan Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry said on Tuesday while heading a three-member bench hearing cases regarding electoral reforms and control on expenditures during elections. According to a private TV channel, counsel for the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM), Faroogh Naseem, began the proceedings with his arguments.
The chief justice asked him if candidates were given party tickets free of cost or in return for a fee. Naseem replied that his party declared ineligible the ones who took tickets in return for money, adding that funds were allotted voluntarily in his party. Justice Tariq Pervez said the funds did not go to the party instead, they were streamed directly to party chiefs. The chief justice said the impression should be dispelled that party tickets were handed out by giving heavy donations.
The MQM’s counsel said other parties gave tickets against heavy donations worth millions of rupees. However, it was not the case with the MQM. The CJP said a smuggler could buy the entire country if he wished so, adding that the ECP never rose to probe the excess expenditures undertaken by political parties during elections. ECP Director General Syed Sher Afghan Khan told the court that large political parties misstated their assets to the Election Commission. The chief justice said if the ECP could not scrutinize the asset details of political parties, then political parties should send their account statements to the post office.
