Despite repeated reminders by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), only eight political parties have been able to submit their statement of accounts by the due date, which was August 29.
According to ECP, no party under Article 14 of the Political Party Order, 2002, will be eligible to obtain election symbol for contesting elections for parliament and provincial assemblies if it failed to submit its statement of accounts under Article 13.
The ECP’s repeated reminders to the political parties for submitting their statement of account have cut no ice, as so far no known political parties have submitted their statement of accounts except Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) and Awami National Party (ANP).
According to the list available on ECP official site, a total of 327 political parties enlisted with ECP of which only eight political parties have submitted their statement of accounts hitherto.
ECP has time and gain drawn political parties attention to submit their statement of party accounts, as per article 13 of political parties order, 2002, as last date for filing statement of accounts by political parties was August 29.
Despite announcements about the last date for filing of statement of accounts by the political parties on national media, only eight political parties have submitted their party accounts in correct format as envisaged under Political Parties Order, 2002. These include Awami Muslim League (AML), Islami Tehreek Pakistan, Jamaat Ahle-e-Hadith, Pakistan Muslim League (J), Awami National Party, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaniat, Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) and Pakistan Women Muslim League.
The ECP on Wednesday against issued notification reminding political parties that they are bound to submit the latest details of their accounts to the ECP every year.
ECP has also urged all political parties to submit the statement of their accounts for fiscal year 2015-16 with the commission before August 29. This is in accordance with Article 13 of the Political Parties Order 2002, which states that every political party has to submit a statement of accounts to ECP within 60 days from the closure of each financial year.
The statement to be submitted should carry details of annual income and expenses of the party, sources of its funds, and details of assets and liabilities.
Since former president Pervaiz Musharraf introduced the law, the poll supervisory body gets statements of assets of the political parties and publishes the same in the official gazette as a formality.
When Pakistan Today contacted Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN)’s Head of Programmes Muddassir Rizvi, he said that the penalty regarding non-submission of statement of accounts of political parties is not clear and that the law in this regard is avery weak.
However, he said that all political parties are enlisted with ECP, so the commission has the authority to delist a party that fails to submit statement of accounts.
The political parties, he said that submitted their statement of accounts usually late that is why the commission gives them extension time and again rather to delist them.
