Ministry hesitant over ECP plea to release Rs47bn for elections

The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has sought Rs47.42 billion from the government in order to make preparations for next year’s general election. However, the Ministry of Finance is apparently in a difficult position to earmark a major supplementary grant at least during the current quarter of the fiscal year in view of engagements with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) as it is grappling with expenditure overruns incurred during the first quarter. Informed sources said the election body moved a case in September for technical supplementary grant to the ministry of finance on top of a Rs6.3bn normal budget, approved in June, to pay salaries and meet other routine expenditure. However, the finance ministry declined the request and asked the ECP to approach the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the cabinet with a proper summary. The ECP told the ECC late last month that as per its constitutional responsibility, it was taking all steps to conduct the general election and had already approached the finance division for allocation of funds. It sought a “rationalised” budget requirement of Rs47.42bn to make preparations for the elections.