The Pakistan Institute of Legislative Development and Transparency (PILDAT) on Monday urged the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to review the amendments it had proposed in the Election Nomination Form, terming some of its clauses “vague and unnecessarily intrusive”.
In a statement issued here, PILDAT expressed support for the new clauses, 4, 5, 12, 13, 14 and 15 under the section titled Declaration and Oath by the Person Nominated.
PILDAT’s review and suggestions on the new nomination forms were shared with the ECP.
It said Clause 41 required candidates to provide details of accounts opened for election expenses and was in line with the direction of the Supreme Court also directing to provide weekly statements to the ECP.
Regarding Clause 5(II) demanding the ownership of any company from the candidate, PILDAT said it needed to be clarified whether the candidates should declare only 100 percent ownership, 50 percent ownership or shares in any company.
PILDAT supported the inclusion of Clause 12 seeking detailed information on income tax paid and attachment of copies of income tax returns paid during the past three years. It also supported Clause 13 that required details of children studying abroad and expenses incurred on their education for previous three years, Clause 14 to obtain information on travel abroad and expenses incurred as well as Clause 15 requiring details of any agricultural income tax paid and copies of agricultural tax returns.
The institute, however, expressed reservations on the insertion of Clause 16 requiring former MNAs or MPAs to describe “single most important contribution made for the benefit of constituency”.
“How have elected representatives performed their responsibilities is to only be judged by the voters who can choose to return their candidate to the Assemblies or vote them out,” PILDAT said suggesting removal of the clause from the nomination form.
Similarly, Clause 194 requiring candidates to declare their donations to charitable institutions was also objectionable because such information was expected to be confined between the giver and the recipient.
PILDAT supported the insertion of clauses 17 and 18 seeking declaration of any financial contribution to the political party which has awarded the party ticket for the election, and whether the party has paid any sum to the candidate.
It questioned the insertion of Clause 20 asking the candidates to declare that they would abide by the Code of Conduct issued by the ECP and termed it superfluous.
It supported the additions to the form which had made statements of assets and liabilities by candidates to be more comprehensive.
However, it questioned the vagueness of the language of the No Objection Certificates requiring the candidates to state that “failure to give detail regarding any item of this Form shall render my nomination to contest election invalid”.
PILDAT called for replacing making it more specific and qualified to ensure that only wilful or deliberate failure to provide required information in the form would make a candidate’s nomination invalid.