ISLAMABAD: A five-member bench of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), headed by Chief Election Commissioner Justice Sardar Raza, will hear Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s (PTI) petitions accusing the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) of illegal and unlawful funding on Tuesday.
PTI leader Farrukh Habib filed two separate complaints with the ECP, accusing the PML-N and the PPP of concealing their sources of funds and companies registered by them in the United Kingdom and the United States. PTI further sought cancellation of election symbols allocated to both the parties for their failure to meet legal requirements for eligibility to obtain the symbols.
Last week, in its verdict on Hanif Abbasi’s petition accusing PTI of being a foreign-funded party, the Supreme Court had sent the matter to the ECP for investigation. “The ECP must act transparently, fairly and justly, without discrimination among different political parties,” the chief justice had written in the judgement.
“For undertaking such scrutiny, it shall be reasonable for the ECP to examine the accounts of a political party within five years of the objected accounts of that party having been published in the official gazette.”