ISLAMABAD - With only a couple of days remaining in the completion of the polls’ contestants scrutiny, the electoral body has apparently failed to lay hands on the powerful tax dodging politicians set to contest general elections.
In the wake of the prevalent scenario, the Supreme Court of Pakistan has taken strong exception to the difficulties being faced by the district returning officers, returning officers and assistant returning officers that include the absence of required information on the tax dodging political bigwigs. The court on Thursday sought detailed report on the matter, in a letter directed to the secretary ECP.
The SC ordered the secretary to “take urgent concrete and specific measures in coordination with all the concerned authorities of the federal and the provincial governments and submit report of the steps so taken by him today.” Following this, the secretary submitted, the same day, the ECP report to the registrar SC.
Facing the apex court’s displeasure, the commission also asked on Thursday the National Accountability Bureau, Federal Board of Revenue(FBR) and State Bank of Pakistan to ‘cooperate’ with the DROs, ROs and AROs for the provision of relevant information on the tax evaders.
However, it appears that the commission has never proceeded to materialise its high sounding strategy to net the tax evader politicians, it had formulated in coordination with the NAB, SBP and FBR last month. Any details about tax defaulting politicians are yet to come to light the way the ECP had sought lists of utility bills defaulting politicians from the authorities concerned.
When approached, the Chief Election Commissioner Justice (Retd) Fakhruddin G Ebrahim believed otherwise. He argued that all the departments were performing duties “to the best of their capacity.”
“So many big guns have been sent packing because their nomination papers were rejected due to tough scrutiny process. The ROs and DROs are serving judges who accept no influence or interference in their work, “ he told this correspondent
When requested to specifically comment on the absence of information with the DROs, ROs and AROs regarding tax dodgers and multiple problems being faced by them with only a couple of days to remain in the scrutiny process completion, as well as the SC letter to the secretary ECP in this regard, the CEC said, “There’s a lot of time till the elections date from now. Everything would be put in order. We respect the SC directives and would implement them in letter and spirit.”
TheNation on Wednesday had reported that the ECP had declined FBR’s request to make crucial changes in the software designed to net the tax evading politicians in order to stop them from contesting the general elections.
Dated March 24, 2013, the letter number F.6(4)2013-Res written by the ECP to the FBR had termed it “inappropriate to change software at this stage”.
Some problems being faced by the DROs, ROs and AROs mentioned in the SC’s Thursday letter to the secretary ECP are: non-cooperation of relevant agencies (FBR, NAB) by not supplying the relevant data timely to the DROs and ROs for scrutiny of the nomination papers, selection of monitoring teams by the election commission in various constituencies without consultation of DROs, insufficient funds to meet the requirements, inefficient complementary staff, law and order/security problem, power break down, non-availability of IT (information technology) facility in some districts, improper security arrangements inside courts’ compounds, lack of logistic support, inadequate communication by the election authorities, lack of coordination by the executive authorities with DROs/ROs/AROs, slow internet speed, and non-provision of vehicles to the DROs and ROs by the district administration for election duty.
“The aforesaid issues and problems being faced by DROs/ROs/AROs are of serious nature and unless immediately addressed, they are likely to hamper the electoral process,” the letter, authored by the Chief Justice of Pakistan Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry stated.
Recently, the ECP wrote letters to the federal government departments for the provision of the lists of utility bills defaulting politicians to block their way from contesting the polls. However, it has not proceeded an inch, reportedly, to tighten noose around the tax and bank defaulters that owe billions of rupees to the national exchequer.
On an average, on the other hand, a utility bank defaulter politician owes not more than a few thousand rupees to the national kitty.