ISLAMABAD     -    The Election Commis­sion of Pakistan (ECP), in compliance with the court order, conveyed the Supreme Court yes­terday that it had yet not received the funds for holding Punjab As­sembly elections.

The election body said the conduct of polls on May 14 in Pun­jab is getting impos­sible as it has not re­ceived funds and forces required for maintain­ing law and order.

Officials of the State Bank of Pakistan and Fi­nance Division also sub­mitted their respective reports on the subject.

The ECP said, “At least 4.66 million personnel are required for securi­ty in Punjab.”

The electoral au­thority added that it had written a letter to the federation for pro­viding Pakistan Army, Frontier Corps and Rangers personnel, but did not receive a reply.

The ECP added that April 18 was the last date to make payment for the printing of bal­lot papers. “Printing of electoral rolls with pho­tographs is already de­layed,” it stated. The electoral body men­tioned that it is its re­sponsibility to conduct transparent, fair and peaceful polls.

“In view of the ground facts, October 8 is the ap­propriate date to con­duct elections,” it said and added that if there is no adherence to this date, then there is fear of anarchy in the coun­try. The Central Bank also submitted its re­ the reasons for not allocating funds for this purpose. “They can allocate funds... Did not have the authority to release funds directly,” it conveyed 

A three-member bench at the country’s top court — head­ed by Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Umar Ata Bandial and comprising Justice Ijaz ul Ahsan and Justice Munib Akhtar — on April 14 had directed the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) to re­lease funds for polls in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa by April 17.

The same bench had, in an earlier order, fixed May 14 as the new date for the election to the Punjab Assembly, as it quashed the ECP’s decision to extend the polls date from April 10 to Oct 8.

The court ordered the State Bank and the Finance Minis­try/ Division to file the com­pliance reports on 18-04-23, while the Finance Ministry re­port shall also include a con­firmation in relation to AGPR. The Election Commission of Pa­kistan was asked to file report on 18.04.2023 confirming that Rs21 billion have become avail­able to it.

The order said that the sum of Rs21 billion shall be and be­come available to and with the Election Commission in imme­diately releasable and utilizable funds for the purposes of hold­ing the general elections to the Punjab and KP Assemblies. All the entities i.e. the State Bank, Finance Ministry/Division, AGPR and the Election Commis­sion must act together and co­ordinate fully so that the order and direction of the Court is im­plemented within the stipulated time-frame.

The court noted that this or­der shall be deemed sufficient authority for all purposes for the authorization of expen­diture on the Federal Consol­idated Fund and the federal government shall thereupon obtain the ex post facto ap­proval and sanction from the National Assembly for authori­sation of this expenditure in terms of Article 84 and oth­er applicable provisions of the Constitution.

The bench on 4th April order inter alia said; “The federal gov­ernment shall forthwith and in any case by 10.04.2023 release and provide to the Commission funds i.e. Rs21 Billion for the general elections to the Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa As­semblies.”

As the government did not re­lease funds to the ECP, the court therefore on April 12 had is­sued notices to Governor and next most senior official of State Bank of Pakistan, Secretary and next most senior official of Min­istry of Finance and the Secre­tary and Director General (Law) of the Commission for April 14.