ECP financial needs to be met: Solangi

ISLAMABAD: Caretaker Minister for Information and Broadcasting and Parliamentary Affairs Murtaza Solangi on Monday ruled out any “crisis on meeting the financial needs of the ECP” in order to hold free, fair and transparent general elections in the country.

“The Cabinet had approved Rs42 billion for the budgetary needs of the ECP. An amount of Rs10 billion was already released,” the minister wrote on X formerly Twitter.

He said the Election Commission of Pakistan had approached to release Rs17.4 billion out of the budgeted amount, the official news agency reported.

“Whatever budgeted amount is needed by the ECP, will be released as per its needs accordingly,” Solangi added.

He said the caretaker government firmly stood behind the ECP in holding free and fair elections as mandated by Article 218(3) of the Constitution.

Media reports earlier in the day said that the Election Commission of Pakistan had taken notice of the non-provision of funds by the government for the general elections scheduled to be held on February 8 next year.

However, Finance Secretary Imdad Ullah Bosal visited the ECP and told reporters that the funds would be released with two days.

He said that the Finance Ministry received the letter from the ECP on November 18 and the “disbursement of funds requires approval at various levels”.

On Sunday, Information Minister Murtaza Solangi rejected the notion of any delay in the upcoming general elections.

“Holding elections is the responsibility of the Election Commission and the caretaker government will fully assist the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) in this regard,” the minister said while talking to a private television channel.

He said the caretaker government was fully prepared for holding free, fair and transparent elections in accordance with the schedule issued by the ECP.

Every political party has a right to express its views and all of them wished to have a level playing field in accordance with their own whims, Solangi said.

Both the conditions and environment, he said, were conducive for elections and all political parties were actively engaged in political activities.