The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Saturday announced that the details of candidates intending to contest elections and their declared assets will not be made public, reported a private media outlet.
According to reports, the ECP said that parliamentarians elected previously had opposed making the nomination papers and declaration of assets public and did not allow legislation in this regard.
The law provides voters with the right to raise objections on the candidates. The decision against disclosing the details would affect the transparency of the electoral process.
The ECP had published online nomination papers of candidates in the last general elections back in 2013, but it won’t make them public this time. Back in 2013, there was no law allowing the ECP to disclose candidates’ details, however, the authority made nomination papers public exercising its constitutional powers.
More than 500 contestants from different political and religious parties obtained nomination papers on Thursday from the ECP Lahore chapter while some 30 candidates submitted their papers for the upcoming general elections.
In the first phase, the contestants of different political and religious parties obtained or submitted their nomination papers.