A meeting chaired by Chief Election Commissioner retired Justice Sardar Muhammad Raza held in Islamabad on Friday came to this decision.
A similar strategy was also adopted by the ECP during the 2013 general elections to observe election campaigns and identify violations of laws but such a move was not backed by legal injunctions.
However, the Elections Act 2017 supports the idea of monitoring teams and details how such teams will conduct their operations.
According to an ECP official, the teams would be ready before the election schedule is announced later this month.
“The Commission shall constitute a monitoring team consisting of such number of persons as may be determined by it, to monitor election campaign of the candidates and political parties and report, on regular basis in the prescribed manner, to an officer nominated by the Commission in respect of each district for the purpose of deciding the complaints regarding any violation by a candidate or a political party of any provision of the Act, Rules or the Code of Conduct issued by the Commission,” reads Section 234(1) of the Elections Act.
The ECP official said that under sub-section 3, a district monitoring officer can hold a summary investigation upon receiving a complaint and impose a fine not exceeding Rs 50,000 if complaint proves to be accurate.
