ISLAMABAD    -     The Election Commis­sion of Pakistan (ECP) Tuesday submitted a report on whether it has received funds from the federal government for general elections in the Punjab province.

In this regard, the ECP filed the report at the apex court’s Registrar’s Office in a sealed en­velope. A three-judge bench, headed by Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandi­al, and comprising Jus­tice Ijaz ul Ahsan, Jus­tice Munib Akhtar on April 4 had fixed May 14 as the polling day for the Punjab election, and asked the Commission to file a report in the court by April 11 stat­ing whether the said Rs21 billion funds have been provided and re­ceived and if so, wheth­er in full or in part.

On the other hand, the federal government, defying the court order, has so far not issued the funds for elections and instead referred the matter of election funds to the Parlia­ment. Finance Minister Ishaq Dar introduced the “Charged Sums for General Elections (Pro­vincial Assemblies of the Punjab and the Khy­ber Pakhtunkhwa)” Bill 2023 in both the houses of parliament.

The bill is aimed at carving a legal way for the release of Rs21 bil­lion funds for holding elections in Punjab and KP. Dar introduced the piece of legislation as ‘money bill’, which gives the voting right on it to the National Assem­bly and a maximum 14-day time to the Senate to give the recommendations on the bill. The SC order said: “If the funds have not been pro­vided or there is a shortfall, as the case may be, the court may make such orders and give such directions as are deemed appropriate to such person or authority as nec­essary in this regard.” A day ago, Chief Election Commis­sioner (CEC) Sikandar Sul­tan Raja had written a letter to National Assembly Speaker Raja Pervaiz Ashraf and Sen­ate Chairman Sadiq Sanjra­ni, proposing amendments to Sections 57 (1) and 58 of the Elections Act, 2017. Under the proposed amendments, the ECP wants its power back to announce and alter the elec­tion schedule at any stage without any intervention by a third party. “Section 11 of the original (peoples’ representa­tion) Act of 1976 empowers the Commission to announce poll date unilaterally without any trace of intervention by a third party. The Section was amended through Ordinance No. 11 of 1985 (12.1.1985) with the sole object to cre­ate the role of the President to hold the elections at the whims of one man,” say the identical letters.